The Fall of the Dragoons
by DarkJest509
Summary: The first 5 chapters of my sequel to the Legend of Dragoon videogame. After returning home after saving the world & defeating Melbu Frahma, a new threat emerges. Can Dart & the gang stop this new villain? Read on to find out... more will be written


**The Fall of the Dragoons**

(A Legend of Dragoon sequel)

Sidenote(s): This story takes place after the defeat of Melbu Frahma. Rose & Zieg are dead, their Dragoon Spirits lost, and the world is saved yet again. Now to begin this story.

Update: Thoughts shall take place in between marks.

Update #2: For those of you who don't remember, Shana's father is the mayor of the village Seles. Just a heads-up for those who are just now reading the end of Chapter 4.

Update #3: From now on, all thoughts will be placed in _italics_. Once I am finished with the story I will go back and fix everything.

**Chapter 1: A New Threat; Albert's Pain**

The remaining 6 Dragoons make their way back to the Earth to celebrate their victory over Melbu Frahma, feeling proud, safe, & happy that the world can rest again knowing that the threat is gone. They discuss amongst each other what they each plan to do once back on their home planet.

Dart & Shana plan to head back to Serdio, and once there, head back to Seles to live out their lives together. Miranda will visit her kingdom in Mille Seseau and rejoice Melbu Frahma's defeat with the other sisters & her queen. Albert prepares to return to his kingdom and prepare a festival in the name of his fallen comrade in arms, Lavitz. Haschel returns to training in the country of Serdio, aiding travelers & sightseers as he meets them along the way. As for Meru & Kongol, Meru returns to her Winglie home to visit for a month before setting out for Tiberoa to build a home to live in. Kongol travels with Meru for a while, and when they reach Tiberoa, he visits the Giganto home there before setting for the country of Serdio to visit Dart & Shana.

Once back on the planet, they all set out to do as they planned, and many of them are very happy when they return home, but Albert's plans are ruined when he returns to his kingdom.

When Albert reaches his kingdom with a smile on his face, he sees the village of Bale in ruins, fires ablaze wherever he looks. Bodies lie in a heap as he wanders the ruins in search of survivors. Albert falls to his knees with tears rolling down his face, he throws his head back and screams out "Whyyyyyyyyy!" before letting his face fall into his hands as he begins to cry. He sits there on his knees for hours, thoughts of why this happened & what he could have done were he here running through his mind.

"I should have been here." He said, "I could have stopped this, I could have prevented this from happening. Who did this? Why?"

After he comes to his senses, he stands up and begins digging graves for every village lost in the attack. As he is burying the people of Bale in the ground, he wonders when this happened, how long ago this siege of the village Bale began. He keeps saying to himself over and over again in thought that he should have been here, that the others could have saved the world themselves, after all, Albert has a responsibility to his kingdom.

About two hours later he had finished burying his people. He was exhausted, but he decided to set out for the cave leading to Southern Serdio none-the-less. He felt like he was dying of thirst, but had no water, nor any food for that matter. He fought as hard as he could against the beasts in the cave, but he eventually fell unconscious in the midst of a battle. He thought for sure he would die, so he just closed his eyes and let it come to him. He felt as if he had betrayed his kingdom, his people by letting them die, he wanted to be with them.

He awoke the next day thinking he was dead, even praying that the fiends had devoured his flesh and bones, not leaving any trace of him. He took a look around his surroundings only to realize that he was still alive, lying in a bed in some person's house. He felt his head and began to unwrap the bandage, wincing as he came across the gash in his forehead.

"No! Don't do that, you're hurt!" The woman runs over to Albert, places the tray down on the bedside table and slaps him. "Now now, you should still be resting sir, you took quite a beating from those monsters in there. You're lucky my husband showed up when he did, otherwise you'd be a goner." She picks up the tray and places it down on Albert's legs. "You need to eat up, you've been out at least half a day."

"Um, excuse me ma'am, but could you please tell me where I am? Why did you help me?" Albert asked. "You're in my home silly. My husband brought you here after finding you lying in that cave up north. You're in the middle of these plains south of that cave and your kingdom Bale Albert. My husband knew it was you when he saw you, and he wanted to bring you here, not only because you're our king, but because you & Sir Lavitz helped us a while back. We need to explain to you what happened while you were away, but that can wait a while, you need to finish resting first."

"I'm fine, just please, tell me who you are at least."

"hehe, we have never met before, but Lavitz helped us before. We were trying to escape from the emperor during the war and he convinced us that we could find shelter at Bale, he told us that you could protect us, keep us safe from harm."

She smiles and tells him to rest as she leaves the room. He looks around and lays back down, thinking of Lavitz and the people of Bale. "I promise to settle this, one way or another." And with those words, he closes his eyes and drifts into a deep slumber.

He awoke the next morning and looked out the window near the bed. He looked up into the sunny sky and smiled, forgetting for just that moment the events of the past few days, and the battles before then even. He was at peace for that moment with the sun's rays shining down on him in the darkened room of the family's cabin.

The door to the room opens and a little boy runs in and grabs Albert's hand as he turns around.

"Yay! Yay! It's really you!" he says shaking Albert's arm up and down the whole time. He hugs Albert tightly as he just looks down at the boy puzzled, wondering why the boy seems so excited to see him. "I thought you were dead for sure sir, er, I mean king Albert."

It was at that moment when Albert remembered the horrors of the previous two days. He pushes the boy out in front of him a little bit and kneels down to look into his eyes. "Can you please tell me where your father is?"

"He is out, working in the farm I think. I can go get him for you if you'd like sir." The boy said with a smile.

"No, it is not needed, I can go to him myself. Want to walk with me?" Albert said standing up with a smile and a hand on the boy's left shoulder.

"You sure? Er, I mean, yes sir, of course sir!"

Albert heads out into the main room of the cabin with the boy walking closely behind, trying carefully not to bump into the king for fear of upsetting him further. The king stops at the table when he sees the boy's mother walking in from the yard carrying many kinds of vegetables in a cloth. The king walks to the door to help her in as she reaches the cabin.

"Here you go ma'am, would you like me to take these for you?" he says reaching for the cloth.

"No thanks, I've got them sire." She says smiling. She walks past him and places the cloth on the table. She unties the knot she made and carries the food over to the sink and begins to wash them off, one by one, making sure to leave one of each vegetable for supper later that day. Albert walked over and asked her if she'd let him help her for a bit, and when she declined yet again, he said that he insisted.

"If you really want to, I suppose you can help me out for just a bit though, can't have the king doing slavework now can we?" she says with a laugh.

"No, no, I enjoy doing work such as this ma'am. I should be treated no differently than any other citizen of the country of Serdio, nor any others for that matter." He smiles and begins to help her wash the vegetables as she begins to cut them up some apples for breakfast.

After about twelve minutes of this, he helped her store the rest of the vegetables for later days. He hugs her and thanks her for looking after him yesterday and steps out into the fields and the bright day.

He looks around to find the father, but has no luck in spotting him. He goes back inside the cabin and asks both the boy & the mother if they know where he went, but they both just shake their heads and continue with what they were doing without a word. Albert walks back out into the daylight, takes another look around, and again has no luck.

"Hmm" he said, "I wonder where he went? I want to thank him for helping me out back there."

He walks into the field and begins to look around again, still not seeing any signs of the boy's father. He takes a look around the cabin next, this time looking for any footprint tracks that he may be able to follow, but there are none.

"Strange, what happened to him? Where did he go I wonder?" he looks around some more with a very confused look on his face, and still doesn't find him. He walks out onto the path and walks over to the tree when he hears some loud snoring.

Albert comes around the tree, "Hey!" The man jumps straight up and looks about in shock as Albert begins laughing.

"Hey, didn't your mother ever teach you not to interrupt a man when he's sleeping!" he looks at Albert again and gets a look of panic on his face. "Oh my god! I'm really sorry sire, please forgive me!" He gets down on his hands and knees holding his hands together as if he is praying to the gods. He keeps asking for forgiveness from Albert as well as apologizing to him for his rude behavior.

"hehe, stand up, no need to apologize, it was very rude of me, I admit. If anything, I should be the one to apologize to you sir, I had no right to do as I did." He smiles and apologizes to the man as he extends his hand to help him up.

The man grabs Albert's hand as he helps him to his feet. "Thank you sir, but still, I'm sorry for my reacting, I didn't mean to overreact the way I did. Now, how are you doing sire, have your injuries healed I hope?"

"Yes, they healed nicely thanks to your wife. I have already thanked her as needed, and I tried to help her take care of some chores, but she wouldn't let me do much I'm afraid."

"Hahaha! That's my wife for ya, she's stubborn as an ox I tell ya."

Both the man and Albert begin to chuckle to themselves for a bit as the wind blows through the valley creating a nice breeze for them to enjoy.

"Sir, thank you for saving me back there. I wouldn't be standing here right now enjoying this day with you, nor your family if you if hadn't found me when you did."

"No problem sir, anything for my king." He bows as Albert begins to speak again. "Well, thank you none-the-less sir. You must be quite some warrior to fend off all those monsters like you did. I could really use your abilities to help the country of Serdio."

The man smiles widely as Albert speaks those words. "Thank you sire, you really think so!"

"Yes, of course I do, but if you don't mind, I'd like to test your abilities for myself first." He says with a smile as he awaits the man's response.

"Of course sir, anything. Just for practice though right? My wife would kill me herself if we ended up hurting one another." He says as he begins to cringe in fear at the thought.

"Haha! Of course, we'll take it easy at first then all right?"

"Works for me sir, let me just get my staff first."

"Yes, of course, and please, call me Albert, no need for any formalities sir."

"Oh, all right, if you insist. My name's Rox by the way, I hate being called sir, just doesn't suit me ya know?"

"I know exactly what you mean Rox. Could you please tell me where my lance is?"

"Oh, I set that beside the door when you enter the cabin. If you want, I can bring it to you when I get my staff."

"No, that's all right, I'll come with you, I don't want people to feel as if they have to tend to my every need all the time, I can take care of myself."

They head back to the cabin to retrieve their weapons.

"Let's see how well your balance is first." Albert says as he thrusts forwards with his lance. The man parries with ease by bringing his staff back and catching the lance with his staff, throwing it back up, sending Albert back a ways as he loses his footing. "Impressive."

"Thank you Albert, now it's my turn!"

The man jumps forwards bringing his staff down over his head aiming for a quick blow to Albert's head. Albert raises his lance over his head and manages to throw Rox onto his back where he first stood.

"Ouch, you're not bad yourself if you don't mind my saying so."

"Haha! Well, I didn't just spend all my time as king just lounging around you know?"

They both chuckle for a bit and then Albert and Rox charge for each other. Rox swings down at Albert from his left side as Albert catches the staff with his lance. They continue to fight like this for hours, both wearing each other down with each strike.

They both fall down, exhausted, against the tree when they had finished their little 'test'.

"So, what exactly happened to my kingdom while I was away?"

"Oh, I figured you'd ask that sooner or later." He looks down at the ground, his bottom lip trembling as he thinks back to what happened. "I guess you deserve to know, but I can already tell you that you won't like what I have to say Albert, trust me."

"It's ok, take your time Rox, but I need to know." He places his hand on Rox's right shoulder and then reaches into the bag they set down next to the tree. He pulls out some carrots and hands a few to Rox and keeps a few for himself. He bites into one carrot as Rox begins to speak.

"Well sir, about two weeks ago, the city of Bale got a threat from an unknown man. He sent some oddball to deliver the message that Bale would soon fall, along with a few other things, but since I was not at the castle at the time, I have no clue as to what was really said that day. All I know is that after this man delivered his message, he fell right on the spot in front of all the soldiers. They checked him to see if he was ok, but he had just died. It's still very odd, such a young man dying just like that. He was taken to the infirmary so the doctors there could try and figure out what had happened, but they found nothing, he was perfectly healthy they said."

"Odd, sounds like some kind of dark sorcery to me. Sorry for the interruption, do continue please."

"That's all right Albert. I have to admit, it is very curious. I still want to know who did this to the boy."

"As would I."

"Well, it turns out that two days later at the exact same time, this large man entered the city of Bale and went straight for the castle without taking any time to wander the city. He was wearing this dark, hooded coat when I passed by him with my family, so I didn't get a good look at him, I didn't even give him a second thought at the time. Well, when we reached our home in Bale, we heard screams coming from the castle. I sent my family to the cave as I grabbed my staff and ran to the castle. When I arrived, I saw so many of your soldiers lying dead on the ground…..so much blood." He shudders as he closes his eyes remembering the sight.

"It's ok, as I said, take your time Rox."

"Yes, yes, I know, I'm fine, really I am, it's just hard to grasp, even now." He grabs a cup of water and takes a drink of water. He then eats a carrot as Albert finishes his second. "Ok, I'll continue now if that's all right."

"Yes, of course."

"As I looked around at the bodies, I took a look up the stairs leading into the castle and saw that same man staring down at me. He had this grin on his face, not a normal one, almost psychotic, but I could sense that he was still sane I guess you could say. This man, without even moving, sent me flying back into the fountain, the traditional meeting place for lovers, I think you know which well I'm talking about right Albert?"

"Yes, of course Rox."

"After that, I really don't know what happened Albert. I hit the center part of that fountain hard enough to render myself unconscious I'm afraid. I awoke buried under the rubble of that centerpiece. If I had to guess, that is why I am still alive."

"Sounds like you got lucky then Rox, and I'm grateful for that." Albert smiles as Rox nods his head slowly up and down.

"Yes, I believe so, I'm happy to be alive, maybe God meant for me to live so I could meet with you Albert, or maybe there's some other purpose for me still."

"Well, whatever the purpose, you were spared for a reason, and I know that you'll do just fine Rox."

"Thank you sir. Now, where was I?"

"You were explaining to me what happened after you awoke."

"Ahh, yes, thank you Albert. I pushed the rubble off of my body and leaned up, soaking wet mind you. I took a look around and saw the village burning, houses collapsed, the castle in ruins, bodies everywhere, it was an awful sight."

"Yes, I saw the same when I arrived in Bale the other day. I buried as many as I could, and made graves for those who I could not find."

"That was very kind of you Albert, thank you. I would have done the same if I were able to think at the time. I just wish I could have done something to stop this from happening." He slams his fist on the ground as Albert looks at him smiling.

"You and I are a lot alike aren't we Rox?"

"How so sir?"

"Well, I mean in terms of how we wanted to do something to stop this, out attitudes towards all that's happened, just us. I've noticed that we have quite a few similarities between the two of us Rox." He smiles and asks Rox to continue.

"Ok, I understand." He says with a smile before continuing on. "I looked around Bale trying to find the man, but I found no trace of him, so I decided to continue on to the cave to meet up with my family. Well, they somehow made their way through the cave by themselves, so I just decided to follow and make my way back to the cabin to be with them. I found some Fireflies in the cave and I used those to heal my injuries enough to get myself out of the cave. I made my way back to our cabin here in the valley, and was greeted by both my wife & son as soon as I walked up to the door. They were relieved to see me safe at least, wouldn't let me go either until I passed out again on the doorstep. That was a week before I found you lying in the cave."

"Hmm, thank you Rox for telling me all this, I really appreciate it."

"You are welcome Albert."

"Tell me Rox, do you think I could live with you and your family for a while? I'd like to pay the both of you back for all you've done for me and the kingdom."

"Of course Albert, stay with us for as long as you'd like!" he says pushing himself to his feet. "We'd best be heading back, the wife'll kill me should I stay out too long. She worries so much about me now since Bale fell."

"Haha! I understand." He picks himself up and grabs the items they brought with them and the two of them set off towards the cabin. Along the way, "Rox, if you don't mind, I'd like you to train with me for a while."

"Sure Albert, I have to admit, I've been waiting to hone my skills with someone for a while now, I've become rather rusty I think."

"You call that back there rusty!" Albert says in shock.

They both begin to chuckle as they reach the cabin door.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, a mysterious woman is wandering a forest searching for something. The people thought these objects could never be found again, they thought they were lost for all eternity after the battle with Melbu Frahma on the Moon, but this woman is determined to search for these objects till the end of time if she must.

"Hmm, those villagers said they saw something fall around here somewhere. If I find one then the other should be near as well. I could make some good money off of them at the market in Lohan."

She continues to walk through the forest, hacking off tree branches and everything else in her way. She comes to a clearing in the woods and looks around, and then up as a bright light shines down on her from an opening above her in the trees.

"Aah, some light. That feels great!" she says as she stands in the light, feeling the warmth of the sun for a moment. After a moment, the light vanishes and she looks up only to see a creature blocking the opening. "Ah crap, what now?" she said as she shook her head in disbelief. She takes a look around at her surrounding and sees a small shrine a little ways ahead. She then looks back up, "Of course, it seems only natural for a shrine such as this to have some kind of guardian to keep intruders out."

She unsheathes her rapier and jumps back out of the way as the creature jumps down from the trees. It jumps towards her again, slashing at her chest. She blocks the creature's attacks with her rapier and then follows through by hacking off one of the its arms.

"Ahh, come on, this can't be all this beast has to offer! I was expecting a challenge worthy of my time dammit, not this pathetic excuse for a monster!"

The creature lunges at her again as she thrusts her rapier forwards into its mouth, splitting it in two halves as the dead creature falls on either side of her. She begins to walk forwards feeling confident, preparing to sheath her rapier again, but she stops as she hears an odd sound from behind her.

"Huh?" she turns around and sees the creature's halves merging together. "What the…?" The creature finishes reforming and stands upright. It resembles a giant chameleon like creature, green, horrendous smell due to the weird liquid oozing from the healed scar down its body. The liquid slowly falls to the ground, and when it does, bubbles begin to form and pop, steam rises up from the ground.

"Ah! That stuff's as hot as lava!" she says in shock, "It's burning right through the ground!"

The creature runs forward leaving a trail of acid as he runs. The woman jumps out of the way as the lizard runs past her into a tree. The tree falls as the woman watches in awe of the lizard's strength. Then, she runs forwards and cuts through the lizard again, slicing it in half and watching as the pieces fall to the ground.

"There, that should do the trick." She says putting away her rapier. She turns and begins to walk the path to the shrine, but again she hears the noise and turns to see the lizard fully reformed. "What does it take to kill this thing!"

She jumps out of the way as it comes barreling past. She begins to shake her foot as it begins to burn. As the creature ran past, it seems some acid fell onto her boot. She reaches down, takes off her boot and throws it as hard as she can at the lizard, hitting it in the head and knocking it to the ground. She laughs as she runs up to it and stabs down into its head with her rapier.

"That should do the trick. Time to head inside now."

As she walks inside the shrine, she takes a look around to see if there's anything in here besides what she's looking for. She taps on the walls and the ground, feeling around for any booby-traps that may be active, but she finds none. She shrugs and walks a bit further into the shrine as she sees a small glow coming from up ahead. She smiles greedily and continues towards the glow in the next room.

"Yes, finally it's mine!" she says as she reaches the pedestal in the small chamber. She looks down at the two small orbs lying on the stone pedestal. "Hmm, wonder how they got here of all places?" she says looking at the orbs puzzlingly. She shrugs it off and picks up the red orb and places it in her small bag hanging from her belt. She reaches for the dark blue orb.

"Aah, what the!" she says as the orb begins to float in the air shining brightly. It slowly falls back to the pedestal, still shining bright. "That was weird. Hmm, oh well." She picks the orb up off the table and screams out as her body begins to twitch and writhe violently. She drops the bag and the red orb rolls out and along the ground. The woman continues to scream as she begins to transform. Armor begins to cover her body & her clothes, wings sprout from her back. She falls to the ground and lies on her chest when the transformation had been completed. She turns her head to the left, trying to look over her shoulder to see what had happened, but as she does, she falls into a deep slumber. Her last thought before falling asleep was, "No, this can't be. Why has this Dragoon spirit chosen me?"

Elsewhere, Albert & Rox have finished preparations for setting out towards the village of Seles. They have gathered up as much food as possible without taking everything from Rox's wife and son. They pick up their weapons at the door and turn back as the wife wishes them good luck.

"Don't worry," Albert says, "We'll be just fine. I promise you that I'll bring your husband back safely ma'am."

"When we have gathered up our army, we will set out to find this man and set the people at ease. We will kill him before any more innocent lives are taken."

"Justice," Albert said, "honor. I promise you, the people of Bale, we will avenge your deaths."

The two set out the door as the boy runs up to the door and waves good-bye to his father. The woman begins to cry as her husband & Albert walk out of her sight.

"Mom," the boy says as he sees her crying, "are you ok? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing…..honest."

"Are you sure mom?"

"Yes honey," she says as she walks over and hugs him, "just go out to the fields for a bit and play if you'd like. I'll get to work fixing us up some dinner." She smiles as she walks over to the counter and prepares to cook them both a fine meal.

**Chapter 2: Greg, the Klutzy Merchant; Dabas' New Assistant**

Two medium-sized ravens fly through the hole in top of the shrine. It is night outside now, and the woman continues to rest. The larger raven rests atop the pedestal as the other takes her place in front of the woman's face. She hops a bit closer and stares menacingly at the sleeping beauty.

In the woman's dream, she is lying in a pool of black mist. She opens her eyes and rises to her feet, looking at her body to see herself transformed into a Dragoon, the Dragoon of Darkness. She begins to walk through the mist, only to find no end to her path, just darkness all around in every direction. She begins to hear voices around her and she begins to run, screaming from her fright.

"There is no need to be afraid girl."

"Ah!" she looks around panicked, "who said that!"

"I'm right here, or can't you see me?" the voice says, coming from a few feet in front of the woman.

The woman looks ahead of her to see a woman standing in front of her. She appears to have pointy ears like that of an elf, she's wearing dark blue armor that covers almost her entire body, except for her arms and her right leg.

"Who are you?" she says, looking the woman up and down at least three times.

"My name is Rose, and I see no need to ask you yours Raven."

"Hey! How did you know my name!" she says backing away a few feet from Rose.

"That's not important right now Raven, just listen. I need to explain to you the power you hold in your hands." Rose says as she watches the woman nod, almost as if she's unsure of whether or not she really wants to stay and chat with Rose.

"First off, there's no reason to be afraid of me, just think of me as your instructor on how to put your new powers to use understand?" again Rose watches as the girl nods. "You now possess the power of the Darkness Dragoon Spirit. I once held this power as you do now, but I am no longer among the living, so to speak. You must use this strength to set the country at peace. Zieg and I have been observing this country of Serdio, and we need your help. A very terrible man has destroyed Bale and Albert now seeks his revenge. He will be needing your help, otherwise he'll never stand a chance. You need to leave this shrine now and find Albert! He's in grave danger, if he tries to challenge this man now without the others, he will lose his life, and we cannot afford to lose him, his country can't afford to lose him now. Raven, I will explain how to use your powers when you leave the forest, make your way to Lohan first, you should find a man named Haschel there. Make haste Raven, the world's fate will soon be in your hands."

With that, Rose floats backwards into the Darkness and Raven just mutters under her breath "Bye Rose." Raven wakes up, looks around the room to see two ravens staring at her. The Ravens fly off as Raven stands up. She looks at her hands and the rest of her body in the reflection of the shrine walls to see that she's no longer transformed as a Dragoon, but instead she's back to normal. She opens her clenched hands to see both Dragoon Spirits of Fire & Darkness resting within her hands. She pockets them both and runs out of the shrine.

"I'll do my best Rose, promise."

"Hrrraaaah!" Rox yells as he charges for the Trent monster. He brings down his staff hard against the Trent's left side knocking it the ground. He jumps into the air and slams down, splitting the tree monster in two. "How are you doing Albert!"

"Fine! Just…." Albert says as he jumps and rolls to the side to dodge the Goblin's attack. "….just fine!" He throws his lance into the back of the Goblin. Albert runs up to the fallen creature, grabs his lance, and decaps the creature's head at blinding speeds. "See, told you I was fine." He says brushing some sweat off his face.

"Haha! Glad to see you're having fun." Rox says as he walks over and slaps Albert on the back laughing the whole time. Albert lurches forward a bit as Rox hits him before catching his balance.

"Yeah yeah, you seem to be more skilled than I am when it comes to battling with a lance or staff."

The two of them continue walking through the Forest on their way to Seles. Albert and Rox run along the tree as quickly as possible to avoid the two Goblins chasing them and they continue through to the next area of the Forest.

"Aye! Hello there, how might you two gentleman be feeling today!"

Albert and Rox turn to their right and see a tubby merchant standing before them.

"I believe we are doing well aren't we Rox?"

"Yep, we're fine warriors, we're capable of handling ourselves." Rox says puffing out his chest as Albert laughs.

"Haha! I did not mean to insult you sirs, I only meant to start a friendly conversation." The merchant says bowing to Albert and Rox.

"No harm done." Albert says smiling, "Praytell, but you are a merchant correct?"

"Of course! Best in the lands I say. May you be interested in buying something from my wares perhaps?" The Merchant says hurrying to his feet and pulling the bag from his back. He throws it on the ground to the point where the holdings fall from the bag and rest on the ground. An apple rolls to Albert's feet and he slowly raises his foot to stop it from escaping. The Merchant looks up smiling an apologetic smile as Albert smiles back before chuckling for a bit. He bends down, picks up the apple and walks over to help the Merchant up.

"Are you ok sir?"

"Y-yes. I am so sorry about that, actually, I'm just beginning the merchant business. I'm on my way to Lohan as we speak actually to take up the trade and study under a man named Dabas…."

"Dabas!" Albert says helping the man to his feet before bending back down to help him gather back up his belongings. "Sorry to interrupt, but Dabas is a good friend of mine. He was introduced to me by a group of friends that I traveled with not long ago. When you see him, could you please say 'Hello' to him for me?" Albert says smiling.

"O-of course. May I ask your name sir so I know who to mention?"

"Oh yes, how silly of me, I haven't properly introduced myself yet have I?" he says standing up brushing the dirt off his shirt, "I am Albert, the King of Basil and this is my friend, Rox. We are on our way to recruit men to avenge the fallen people of Bale. It seems that while I was away my kingdom fell under attack and was crushed. I feel for my people and I need to find the person responsible and make him pay for his crimes."

"King Albert!" the merchant says in shock, ignoring all that Albert just said as those words ring through his head, "I thought you were dead!" He falls to his knees and begins to kiss Albert's boots. "I'm so glad to see you alive!" He continues to kiss Albert's feet as Rox lifts the merchant up.

"Please sir, Albert wishes to be treated no differently than other men our age. Well, I believe we must be on our way now, it was nice chatting with you. Um….what was your name again?"

"Oh, I never did tell you did I? My name's Gregory, Greg for short if you don't mind, I prefer Greg." He says in a hurry.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Greg." Albert says extending his hand, "If we meet again, I would appreciate seeing your wares, without them running away from you that is." He says with a wink.

"O-of course sir, thank you." The merchant says reaching out with both of his arms shaking Albert's arm up and down so quickly that Albert is shaken silly.

"You're going to end up tearing off his arm if you don't stop!" Rox says in astonishment.

"Oh, oh, sorry." Greg says releasing Albert. "Well, I'd best be on my way then. It was a pleasure chatting with you Sir Albert, Sir Rox." He says with a smile as he slings his bag over his back and runs off in a hurry.

"He's definitely a cheery spirit isn't he Rox?"

"Yes, if you think 'cheery' is the right word for him." Rox says watching the merchant run off into the distance. He shakes his head in disbelief before turning to follow Albert out of the forest.

"Aww, I think he's a pretty nice man Rox. I also know that he and Dabas shall get along very well." He says chuckling a bit afterwards at the thought. I wonder what that current employee of his is going to feel when he's replaced?

As Albert and Rox make their way to Seles, a few of the villagers yell out to Dart, Shana, & her parents, "Dart, Shana! Isn't that Albert!"

Dart & Shana look at each other puzzled before running to the entrance of the village Seles. They look out into the distance as the two men come closer.

"That IS Albert!" Dart & Shana yell out in shock, "But…what would he be doing here?"

"And…" Shana interrupts, "who is that man with him?"

The villagers continue to watch as Albert and Rox enter the village. Dart & Shana walk up to the both of them. Shana hugs Albert kicking one leg up into the air as she jumps up to kiss him on the cheek. Dart's face flushes a bright red for a short while afterwards from jealousy before he shakes his head and begins to speak.

"So, Albert, what brings you here buddy?"

"And…" Shana adds shooting a nasty look at Dart for forgetting again, "who is this man? He looks…familiar for some reason, but I can't figure it out."

Shana begins to walk around Rox eyeing him up and down as Dart begins to chuckle when Shana begins grabbing the guy forcing him to turn to face her, among other, similar things.

"My name…" he says grabbing Shana's hand as she begins pinching his cheeks, "is Rox. You look familiar too, the Red Armor's a dead give-a-way…..Dart."

"Wha..!" Dart starts in shock, "How do you know my name!" he says drawing his sword.

"Whoa!" Albert says running in between Dart & Rox, "Rox is a friend of ours. Don't you remember, when you were traveling with Lavitz after helping Shana to escape Hellena, you helped this man and his family, both his wife and son? Lavitz showed him great kindness that day if I remember correctly."

Shana looks from Albert to Rox and then begins to jump up and down in excitement. "It is you isn't it! I didn't know your name was Rox, it suits you." She says hugging him tightly.

"It's nice to see you again sir…um, Rox I mean." Dart says rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry for drawing my sword on you like that." Dart bows apologetically.

"It's all right, I didn't mean to shock you like that Dart. It sure has been a while huh?" he says shaking Dart's hand before hugging him for a moment. "Glad to see you and Shana are doing well. I'm sorry about what happened to Lavitz, he was a great man." Rox lowers his head in grief.

"It's all right Rox, it's not your fault. We did find the man responsible for Lavitz's death, he is dead now, but it was not by my hand." Dart says, remembering the fight with Melbu Frahma and remembering the way Lloyd died. He shakes his head in anger before Shana places her hand on his shoulder and looks at him as if to say "It's ok." He nods to her and welcomes the two men into their house.

As they walk into Dart & Shana's home, Albert stops to take a look around.

"Is everything all right Albert?" Dart asks as he notices Albert stopped.

"Oh, yes, everything's fine Dart, I was just admiring how excellent a job everyone did at rebuilding this village after it's destruction during that war with my uncle, Doel." He says thinking back to all the senseless destruction. He remembers that feeling of hate he had for his uncle, but then catches himself and begins to feel terrible for how he is acting. He punches the wall of the building next to him in frustration before following Dart & Shana once again.

"Ugh" Greg moans dropping his bag again, "Watch where you're going lady!"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that, but you see, I'm in a hurry. I need to meet with someone before he gets himself into any trouble." Raven says looking down at the merchant. "Aww, dammit, I can't just leave you here like this without doing something to make up for it."She drops to her knees and begins helping the merchant gather his belongings, placing them in the bag.

"Um, ma'am, I don't think it will all fit that way…." He says trying to stop her.

"Sure it will." She says placing the last item in the bag, "You just gotta use some force when tying the bag now." She takes the rope and begins pushing the items as hard as possible so she can tie the bag shut. The merchant, Greg, just watches on shaking his head as if to say "No, this can't be happening." Tears make their way down his face as he sees the blood red of a couple of tomatoes oozing from the bottom of the bag. "See, there you go." Raven says handing him the bag. She sees the tomato juice dripping from the bottom of the bag and grins innocently. "Oops, sorry about that."

"No, I was gonna eat those." Greg says taking the bag. Raven just smiles some more before running off into the city Lohan. "Augh! This day couldn't get any worse I swear!" Greg says storming off into the city holding his bag in his arms. "Stupid girl, I told her not to do this, but would she listen, NO!"

Raven runs up the stairs of Lohan to the back of the city towards the Hotel. She charges through the open door and runs up to the counter, slamming her hands down.

"Any rooms for the night?" she says greedily, "I need a place to stay for the night."

The innkeeper looks at her and then down at her hands on the counter. He looks back up at her face with a grim look on his face, "No, no rooms available at the moment, I'm sorry. Please look elsewhere, I'm sure someone is bound to let you stay with them."

"WHAT!" she says dropping her bottom jaw, "What the heck do you mean there aren't any rooms available? What the hell do you call that over there!" she says raising her left arm to show the open room to the left.

He grins, "That's my room. Besides, we don't serve your kind here. Leave now before I call the guards."

She grumbles and glares at him angrily before storming out.

Greg walks up to the dark blue door of Dabas' Antique Shop and knocks on the door for a bit. He puts his ear to the door and listens for a moment to see if anyone's inside before opening the door. He walks inside and takes a long look around. "Incredible, where does he get this stuff?" he says in amazement.

"Ahh, a customer I see. Like what you see?"

Greg jumps and the man watches as the bag he was carrying comes crashing down on his face, tomato juice dripping into his mouth. The man grabs the bag and pulls it off his face. He grabs a towel on the counter and wipes the juice from his face for looking at the man, his face twisting and contorting in anger.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry sir!" Greg says trying to run to the man, but he slips on the wet floor and watches as the bread from his pouch goes flying and hits the man in his eyes. The man takes a few steps backwards screaming in frustration holding his eyes. Greg stands up and runs behind the counter, knocking over the register and winces as the man screams in pain after it lands on his feet.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god the PAIN! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" the man screams falling to his knees crying from the beating he was just given by Greg, the klutzy, fumbling merchant.

"I'm so very sorry sir, please forgive me." Greg says, lifting the register off the man's feet only to wince again as the individual drawers of the register fall one by one on the man's feet again.

"I'm going to KILL you!" he says grabbing Greg by the throat and lifting him up. The man opens his eyes and Greg notices the red streaks across his eyes. Greg grins a bit.

"I…I'm Greg. It's a….pleasure to……meet…..you..sir. Pl….please…..let…me….exp..lain why I'm…here." Greg says between choked breaths.

"Go on." Dabas says with an evil tone in his voice and a psychotic look in his eyes.

"I…want to….work….and….study…..under you…sir." Greg says with a faint smile.

Dabas drops the man as he scurries to the wall trying to regain his breath.

"You want to WHAT!" Dabas says with a crazed look in his eyes. He's breathing heavily out of anger.

Greg takes a moment to catch his breath before speaking. "I want to work for you sir….if that's all right with you of course." He says smiling while rubbing his neck with both hands.

"Why the hell should I let you work for me! Look at you! You nearly killed me and you expect me to let you work for me!"

"I expected that." Greg moans under his breath.

"What?" Dabas snaps at him.

"Oh, n-nothing!" Greg says trying to back away nervously only to rub up against the wall more, "I just want you to know how much I admire you sir. You're my idol, I want to be just like you sir." Greg crawls forward, kissing Dabas feet as he begins to calm down.

Dabas crosses his arms, "Hmm, well, other than nearly killing me, you seem all right. I'll put you to work here first…" he pats the counter before picking up the register and pushing it in Greg's face. "You'll be working as the cashier for a while. If you can show me you deserve to work for me in a week's time, I'll let you stay and I'll begin to pay you what I feel you're worth."

Greg's eyes light up. "Thank you sir!" he says, jumping to his feet and hugging Dabas as he drops the register on his foot again. Dabas' face begins to contort again, but he manages to refrain from trying to kill Greg this time.

"Now, if you need me, I'll be underground, away from you." Dabas says walking around the counter and lifting up the boards blocking off the ladder to his underground storage center.

"Ok sir, thank you sir."

"Please stop calling me sir, just call me Dabas." He says groaning before pulling the boards back over his head.

"Ooh, these are pretty." Raven says picking up some clothes.

"Aah, so you like? Why don't you try them on, I bet they'd fit perfectly with you skin color and hair." The lady says. "Go downstairs if you'd like to try them on."

"Nah, that's all right, I don't have the money to pay for anything." Raven says smiling at the lady.

"What! No money!"

"Yep, I'm afraid not, I'm just here to take a look and possibly come back later."

"Get out NOW! I don't like window shoppers, they aren't welcome here!"

"Yeesh, fine lady, I'll go." Raven says throwing the clothes over the lady's face.

Raven walks outside into the daylight.

"Why is everyone in this town so mean to me?" she says running her fingers through her long, black hair, taking in the sun's light smiling as the wind blows her hair gently over her face. "Aah, that feels so nice."

She opens her eyes and looks up to see two ravens looking down at her from the rooftop. "Heh, figures, she did say she'd meet me here now didn't she?" she says flinging her hair back. She runs toward the hotel and down the stairs to the right. She barges through the room bumping into the old man, knocking him to the floor before climbing the ladder and running out onto the rooftop with the bartender & old man yelling up at her. She looks back down, sticks her tongue out at them, and disappears in the sunlight.

"All right lady, what's up now huh?"

"It can't be! Bale's gone!" Shana, Dart, & Shana's parents yell.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is," Albert says, looking at them with a sad look in his eyes, "when I arrived, the city was in ruins and bodies lined the streets, everything's gone." Albert places his hands on his knees as Shana begins crying with her head imbedded in Dart's chest.

Dart looks at Albert while running his right hand through Shana's hair, whispering to her that it's all right, and hugging her the whole time. "Do you have any idea who did this? Could it be Doel's army?"

"No, I've no idea who did this or why they would even want to Dart, but apparently it was just one man…"

"One man!" Dart yells, "One man did all of that! How! He'd have to be a Dragoon to even muster that much power!"

"That's what I'm wondering Dart."

Rox steps forward, "This man isn't human Dart, he had these weird powers, something about him just isn't right. He was using the power of magic & sorcery, I don't know how I survived but I did, I know what he's capable of and that is why I want to help finish him before he does this again to another village, possibly even Seles!" Shana's mother begins to cry.

"Great going genius! Keep it down before you upset someone….other than Shana's mom." Dart yells.

"Sorry, I just really want to see this guy dead for what he did you know? That, and I want my dignity back, he beat me so easily. I just haven't been the same since." Rox says drooping his head in shame before leaving the house.

"Albert, let me come with you, I can help.." Dart starts.

"No Dart, this is a matter for the people of Serdio to handle themselves, let me handle this. I promise to you I'll be fine. Besides, you need to stay and protect Shana, make sure nothing happens to our little 'Moon Child' Dart." Albert winks before leaving the house. Dart tries to follow, but Shana's father, the mayor of Seles, stops him and shakes his head 'No'.

"Are you ready to go Rox? We need to visit Hoax and the city of Kazas to recruit men for our cause. Once prepared, we'll set up a little 'trap' for our mystery man." Albert smiles at Rox as the two of them leave the village of Seles.

The villagers of Seles watch and wave good-bye as Rox & Albert walk away into the distance and into the forest. Dart & Shana look at each other saddened and worried about Albert before turning to wave them good-bye.

**Chapter 3: The War for Serdio Begins**

The next day, Albert & Rox are passing through the Cave north of the Prairie again.

"Aaaahh!" Rox goes flying into the water.

"Rox! Are you ok!" Albert yells, but he gets no answer. He turns to face the giant Rock monster he and Rox were fighting.

"Hahahahaha! Looks as if your little friend's finished. You are no match for me. Wahaha!" The Rock creature bellows. His laughter echoes throughout the cave and causes stalactites to fall from the ceiling. Albert rolls forwards in an attempt to dodge one but when he looks up again, he sees the Rock monster preparing to strike. "You lost little man."

"Haha! That's what you think." Albert says pointing up. The Rock monster's expression changes from confident to confused and he looks up only to have a stalactite fall in his mouth, piercing through his back. He's now stuck to the ground.

"Now to check on Rox." Albert says as he turns to go check on Rox who has yet to emerge from the water. As he begins to walk away, he hears a strange moaning sound. He turns around with a surprised look on his face as the creature begins to rise again.

It pulls the stalactite from his mouth and out of his back and tosses it towards Albert who jumps into the air transforming himself into a Dragoon. "Ahh, much better." The Rock monster looks up at Albert who's just floating in place. "What, did you think I'd be foolish enough to be my own destructor? Hahaha! That's an amusing thought. Hahahahaha!"

"Tell me how you survived, that should have killed you!" Albert says wielding his lance and preparing to strike.

"Simple boy, I'm made of rock, something like that couldn't possibly hurt me. Wahahahahaha!" The Rock creature says as he begins to walk towards Albert.

"Hmph, well then, I suppose you won't mind if I finish you off myself then eh? You said it yourself you're made of rock so that means you are of the Earth element correct?" Albert says smirking.

The Rock monster shrugs and continues towards him.

"Your silence is reassuring to me beast. Thank you for being so cooperative, time to die." Albert says as the Rock monster begins laughing again. He flies higher up as the creature looks up at him puzzled. "Now, don't blink or you'll miss it." Albert says winking at the beast.

"Whatever you say, and since when did you have wings?" the creature says blinking as he stares, confused at Albert.

Albert chuckles for a bit before zooming downwards towards the giant rock beast. He strikes the rock in the eyes, flies back, strikes the knees and flies upwards splitting the rock beast in two. He then throws the lance down into the rock creature and shootings a Wing Blaster spell down at the two pieces, destroying what remained. He floats slowly to the ground, transforms back into a human and retrieves his lance.

"What happened, what did I miss?"

Albert turns around to see a very soaked Rox limping towards him. "Oh, nothing important." He says before chuckling a bit, "Let's just be on our way to Hoax. Hopefully the 6th Knighthood of Basil is still there."

The two make their way out of the cave, see the rubble that was once Bale off in the distance, and decide to go rest there for a bit.

"Hmph, darn Rose, calling me useless like that." Raven says crossing her arms as she's preparing to leave Lohan. "I'll show her, so what if I didn't find any clues about Albert or that man in this town, there's always time to find that out." She folds her arms behind her head and stares up into the sky. Two ravens fly crossing the path of the sunlight and out of Lohan. Raven's jaw drops and she turns around, "Ok, I think I'll stay in Lohan a bit longer. There's bound to be someone here who knows where Albert is." She takes a look back and sees the smaller Raven glaring at her. Raven screams for a moment before running up the stairs again. She runs acrossed the bridge and enters a building to hide from the ravens.

"Um, hello there ma'am. Are you here to buy something from us today?" the man behind the counter says.

"Aaah!" Raven screams turning in shock as she sees the merchant standing behind the counter. "Oh, it's you again. What are you doing here?" she says in disgust.

"Hey! I happen to work here and you happen to be standing before one of the greatest merchants in all history." He boasts happily raising his head proudly.

"Uh huh, sure you are. Tell me, what is this place?" Raven says ignoring his comment and looking around the shop.

Greg droops his head sadly, "Welcome to Dabas' Antique Shop, how may I be of service?"

"Oh, so this is Dabas' place huh? I've heard of him from Ro…."she stops herself, "a friend of mine. Tell me, where is Dabas now?"

"Huh? Oh, he's underground, he'll be down there for a while it seems. He doesn't like me too much I don't think." He says sadly, still drooping his head.

"Oh, well then maybe you can help me." She says smiling at him as he raises his head happily.

"O-of course ma'am!"

"You can call me Raven you know?"

"Huh? Oh, oh sure. What can I help you with Raven?" he says smiling at her.

"Well, have you heard of a man named Albert? He's the king of this country, well, Basil I guess. Never met 'im myself, but I was wondering if you've heard anything."

"Wow, I met Albert just recently!"

"Really!" Raven says running up to him and staring him deep in the eyes eagerly awaiting his answer.

"Uh, y-yes actually." He says trying to back away a bit nervously.

"Where!"

"In the Forest near Seles. It's far east of here, it should take you at least a day to reach the town."

"Thank you!" she says reaching over the counter hugging him tightly as he begins to blush.

"hehe, no problem."

She shoves him back into the wall, picks up some bread from the counter and runs out the door.

"Hey, did you hear that Rose! I know where Albert is!" Raven screams as she leaves the city Lohan. The ravens look at each other and fly after her.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Black Castle of the city Kazas, a man is standing in the throne room speaking with the new king.

"Sire, the king and some man seem to be making their way to Hoax as we speak. We need to take action quickly before those two build their army. We cannot afford to let them into this castle!"

The man sitting on the throne looks to his left and out the small window. He lets out a sigh as he looks back at the man, "It doesn't matter. No matter what I do I just can't find that Dragoon Spirit stolen from Graham. It seems to be lost to the ages. I need the Spirit before I can do anything about my father's death. Without it I'm powerless to obtain the rest of the items." He stands up and brushes past the man standing before him. He walks out to the balcony and places his hands on the rail looking out across the horizon.

The man follows the other out to the balcony and stands behind him staring at the sky. "Sir, something I forgot to mention. It seems that the king still possesses the Jade Dragoon Spirit. The only problem is, how will we take it from him?"

The other man turns around quickly and stares excitedly at the chancellor, "Really!" he places his hands on the chancellor's shoulders and looks into his eyes eagerly.

"Yes milord. If I am correct, we should be able to use the magic those alchemists were studying to take Albert's spirit from him and take his life in the process." The chancellor says raising the right side of his mouth slightly, narrowing his eyes. "The king won't know what hit 'im."

"Yes, I believe you're right chancellor. Good, now, show me to these alchemists, I want to see how this 'magic' works. This time, I'm coming with you, I want to see the king in person before we kill him."

"Yes my liege. Right this way, follow me."

The chancellor leads the other man down the stairs and down the elevators till they are on the first floor of the castle. As they walk out of the elevator, the chancellor motions to the two guards to back down as they prepare to attack. They nod and go back to their watch posts.

"Heh, you weak-minded fools. No wonder it was so easy to take over this kingdom." The man says as the chancellor continues towards the room on the left. He turns, "Hey! Wait up a minute!" He runs after the chancellor as he enters the room. "Whooaaa! Look at the pretty colors." The man says mesmerized at the magic that fills the room. The chancellor walks up to the center of the room and sticks his hand into the purple fire. "Hey, what are you doing chancellor Kwami?"

"Nothing important, just collecting some energy for myself. This is what's used to power those elevators sir, but it also seems to restore my strength. Without this I'm helpless. So please don't let anybody know about this room or where I get my strength."

"Oh, ok then, that makes sense."

The chancellor walks around the flame and motions for the man to follow. They enter another elevator and ride it down to the room below. When they step out, the chancellor walks up to the alchemists and the man watches as they three of them collapse to the floor unconscious.

"Ok sir, now that that's taken care of, come here and stand on the other side of the machine." The man runs out of the elevator and to the other side of the machine. He looks up at the swirling vortex of purple magic and then through the magic at the chancellor.

"Ok, what now?"

"Now, place your hands on these panels as I do." The two of them place their hands on the panels in front of them. "Now, wait three seconds and repeat after me. Domo Sa He Mo Rath!"

The man looks on at the chancellor and then screams out, "Domo Sa He Mo Rath!"

Both men remove their hands from the pedestals as the magic surrounds them. They begin to float in the air and the chancellor screams out "Cras Me Mo Hareth!". The man does the same and the magic enters their bodies. They float back down the ground and the magic vortex changes from purple to green. The chancellor yells "Do Pa Reck Seth!" and the man again does the same. The new green magic shoots from the vortex and pierces their bodies. Both men stand as the chancellor screams out "Uk Shu Ma Hareth!" Again, the man does the same and the vortex changes back to its original purple color. Both the chancellor and the man fall to their knees, breathing heavily as the ritual is finished.

"Whoa…..what..was….that?" the man says barely managing to stand again.

The chancellor stands and looks at the man. "I should have known that you would not be able to handle this power just yet. This is what that Giganto used to destroy Bale. I taught him the ritual and he comes here daily to recharge his power. We on the other hand, being Winglies as we are, can sustain this power for weeks without having to recharge. Gigantos are not the most magical creature in existence, but they are the most easily controlled. Not a one has the proper intelligence to use this magic to its full extent. Not even Humans can sustain this power for long. A normal person can only use this power for a limit of two whole days before having to recharge, but they are unable to recharge until three days after losing the power. Pathetic."

"Interesting, this power is incredible!" the man says shooting a blast of lightning energy at the nearby wall.

"Yes, but we have yet to master it."

"Good point chancellor. Shall we be on our way then? I want to see that no good king die at my feet like the worthless dog that he is."

"Yes. Would you like me to contact the Giganto and have him destroy the village Hoax?"

"You know Kwami, that is an excellent idea. Best have him kill everyone in the village, we cannot have the 6th Knighthood see their king alive!"

"Yes sir, I will have one of our men go to the city of Lohan and deliver the message. Speaking of Lohan, I wonder how the Giganto is faring against that old man Haschel?"

The two men make their way back up the elevator and out across the bridge. On the other side, Kwami tells one of the soldiers to visit the city Lohan and tell the Giganto to get himself to Hoax as soon as possible.

"Now, which route shall we take to get to the village Hoax sir? We can go through the Prairie and then through the Cave that leads to Bale, or we can make our way through the Dragon's Nest, then through Volcano Vilude and onwards through the Marsh. I'll let you decide."

"Why can't we just go around the mountains along the country border Kwami?"

"It is better if you get used to your new powers before we fight Albert sir."

"Oh, yes, good point Kwami. All right, I think it's best if we go through Volcano Vilude, I don't like caves all that much." He says with a frown.

"Ok sir, follow me, let us have ourselves some fun." Kwami says bowing to the man. They make their way out of town and head towards the Dragon's Nest.

Raven enters the Forest and begins to scream out Albert's name hoping for a response. "Albert! King Albert! Are you here!" she walks a bit further into the forest and drops her head letting out a sigh. "Nope, I guess not. That merchant told me he was here though." She raises her head and looks around with a puzzled look on her face. She looks up as the two ravens fly by and land on a tree branch up ahead a ways. She walks up to them and looks up, "Guys, could you help me out here please?"

The smaller raven closes her eyes and Raven's expression goes blank.

"Think girl, Albert is no longer here. How can we trust you to do this if you can't even figure something as simple as this out huh?"

"Oh, yeah! Thanks Rose, catch ya later!"

Raven opens her eyes and runs through the forest a bit further. "I wonder where he could've gone? Crap, I bet she had a bit more to tell me huh?" she says grinning nervously. "Oh well, might as well see what's on the other side of this forest huh?"

She continues to run through the forest but stops as she enters the 'maze' of the forest. She looks around and grumbles as she has no idea where to go or how to get through. "Dammit, stupid mazes, I hate these things."

After about half an hour she finally finds her way through the maze and collapses from exhaustion.

"Ugh, I didn't think the monsters here would take that much out of me."

She falls into a deep slumber.

"Crap, not again." She begins running through the darkness trying to anticipate Rose's appearance. "Gah!"

Rose appears behind Raven as a deep gash appears in Raven's side, blood slowly seeping out of the wound. She falls to her knees as Rose turns around, raises her right hand, still wielding the rapier to the left side of her mouth and laughs.

"Raven, now we'll see what you're made of. If you can't beat me then you don't deserve to be a Dragoon!"

Rose lowers her hand and flicks her wrist back pointing the rapier behind her for a moment. Raven manages to stand up and turn around taking hold of her weapon.

"That's what you think Rose. I'll show you that I do deserve this power!"

"Good, now come and get me girl."

Raven runs forwards swinging her rapier wildly as Rose jumps up and kicks Raven in the back sending her to the ground once again.

"You have no strategy. How do you ever expect to beat me if you can't use your head in battle?"

Raven stands up and shoots a nasty glare at Rose before lunging herself & her weapon forward towards Rose. Rose jumps back about a foot and then charges forwards trying to stab Raven. Raven parries and then swings her rapier, cutting Rose's left side slightly as Rose tries to regain her balance.

"See? I do deserve this power Rose."

"You let your guard down!"

Rose stabs through Raven's left shoulder, a clean pierce through the body. Raven drops her arm and screams out in pain as Rose cuts across Raven's face leaving a deep gash across her right cheek.

"Aren't you even going to fight back?" she looks at Raven as she shakes her head. "No? Fine then, I'll be taking my Dragoon Spirit back now, right after I kill you!"

Raven looks up in shock and lifts her rapier just in time to block Rose's downwards strike. Raven stands up and lunges herself forwards at Rose again. She forces her rapier through Rose's chest. She knocks Rose to the ground and prepares to stab Rose again. Rose smiles and nods as Raven prepares to deliver the finishing blow.

"Stop!"

A Flameshot spell hits Raven in the side sending her flying through the darkness. The man walks over to Rose and helps her up.

"Are you ok Rose?"

"Haha! Yes, of course. Thank you Zieg, but that was not necessary." Rose says smiling at Zieg.

"Haha! Yes, you're right, but she needs to learn to prepare for anything, be ready for any situation. She naturally assumed she had you beat but never stopped to think that they're might be another. She definitely needs some work."

"Some?" Rose says before the two of them start laughing.

"Ahhh!" Raven stands up quickly screaming. "Oh, another of those damn tests of hers! God I wish I could kill her!"

She looks up to see the two ravens looking down at her from a tree.

"Yeah yeah, I'm guessing you're the one who hit me with that damned fireball huh you big ass bird!" she yells angrily as both Ravens glare at her before flying off. "Fine, I'm sorry dammit, but next time, warn me before you do something like that to me!"

She grumbles a bit more before continuing through the forest.

Meanwhile, at the Volcano Vilude, the chancellor Kwami and the mystery man are in the midst of battle with a Fire Bird.

"Hey, I thought you said those people killed this stupid thing Kwami!" the man says jumping back and then rolling to the side as the Fire Bird shoots a Fireball at him.

"Yes, but as long as this Volcano remains active that darn bird can always come back. If one dies another will be born sir." Kwami says firing a Wind Blaster spell at the Fire Bird knocking it back into the rock wall.

"Ohhh." The man says firing a Thunderbolt spell at the bird, blasting it to the ground. He walks around and charges up another Thunder-based spell before blasting the Fire Bird with it, killing it instantly. "Now stay dead dammit!"

The two men continue to walk through the Volcano, the chancellor Kwami helping the younger man build up his powers with each battle they get themselves into.

After a couple hours wandering through the Volcano, they make their way out of the Volcano, battered, bruised, and exhausted. They walk to the entrance of the Marsh and look at each other, breathing heavily.

"Once..we…get…through here…Kwami….how's…about…we…rest..for a….while?" the man says holding his chest with his right hand. He pulls it away to see that the wound he received in the Volcano is bleeding much worse now.

"Sire, are..you ok?" Kwami says looking at the man surprised at how bad the wound has become.

"Y-Yes Kwami….let's go now."

They enter the Marsh and walk a ways until the reach the next area of the Marsh, large fish jumping out of the water, splashing swamp water on the two. The man yells as the swamp water seeps into his wound and falls to his knees.

"Sir, we'll get you taken care of soon. All we need to do is get through the Marsh, we're already halfway there. Please sire, don't give up now."

Kwami helps the man up and begins to lead him through the marsh, stopping as the fish jump, splashing more swamp water on the two of them. Each time the chancellor covers the younger man to prevent any more of the swamp water from entering his wound. Once they reach the next area, they stare at the tree roots ahead of them and sigh both in relief and hopelessness. On one hand, they are happy that they no longer have to put up with the fish, but on the other, they worry if they can make it across the tree roots. They look at all the twists and turns of the roots and try to figure the best way to cross. If they try to go together, Kwami will be able to help the other man across but they could easily lose their footing. If they go one after the other, the younger man could easily fall into the swamp if the wound were to get worse.

"Sir, how are we going to get across? I can't just let you go alone, but we can't go together, what are we going to do?"

"Kwami, can you carry me? You are strong enough to carry me over your shoulder aren't you?"

Kwami stares from the roots to the man and back again. "Hmm, I think I should be able to, but I need to know, can you swim?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Of course I can swim dammit!"

"Ok, ok, I'm going to kneel down now, so grab hold and hold on." Kwami kneels down and the other man grabs onto his shoulder and wraps his right arm around Kwami's neck. Kwami stands up and slumps him over his shoulder holding onto his back with his right arm. "Ok, here we go, don't let go now."

"You don't let go of me Kwami!"

Kwami walks through the opening in the bottom of the tree and makes his way up the roots. He begins to walk along slowly, trying to maintain his balance.

"It seems safe so far sir, let's just hope it stays that way."

Kwami continues to walk across the roots and just as he nears the end of the roots, an arrow hits him in his left arm. He drops Kwami and watches as he rolls along the roots' end to the ground again. Kwami looks to his left as an arrow passes through his chest. He falls back into the swamp water from the shock of the attack and as he enters the water he sees the other man lying unconscious on the ground.

"No! Sir, wake up before they….!" He falls into the swamp water and begins to sink to the bottom. He tries to swim up but his left arm is immobile, he cannot move it due to the arrow still being lodged in his arm. Dammit, I can't just sit here and let myself drown!

He grabs the arrow in his arm and rips it out, taking a chunk of skin with it. He tries to scream out in pain but takes in a huge gulp of swamp water in the process. He begins to choke, trying to breathe. He starts to panic as the blood from his arm wound makes its way to the surface. He can no longer see the light from the sun, the blood is clouding his vision and he starts to close his eyes. He can't breathe, he almost gives up but his loyalty to his master keeps him going. He continues to kick as hard as he can, moving his arms through the water hurriedly trying to make his way to the top.

"Yes, we got 'im men! Let's finish this and take that man back to Hoax to the commander."

The group of soldiers from the 6th Knighthood walk closer to the man lying unconscious, head now dipped in the swamp water. As they reach him, one soldier bends over to pick him up.

"No!" Kwami jumps up out of the water and kicks him in the side of the head, sending him skidding across the ground. "Don't you touch him!"

"How are you going to stop us?"

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into you fool. Back away now and leave while you still have the chance." Kwami says walking in front of the man and holding his arms out to his sides.

"Get out of our way Mr. Chancellor and let us take him now. I don't want to have to kill you."

"Fine, so be it then." Kwami steps off to the side and bows down as the soldier walks over to the man. As he bends over, Kwami summons up a huge Wind Blaster spell and sends the group of men flying across the swamp. "I warned you to leave us alone. Idiots." He proceeds to try and wake the man.

"Give up Haschel. You don't stand a chance against me."

"Haha! Is that so?" Haschel says grinning with his hands held behind his back.

"You really want to go through with this don't you? It would be much simpler if you would just come with me as my master requested."

"I have already told you, my answer is and shall always be no. What's your name again?"

"If you really want to know, my name is Dogul. Now, if you're ready, let us begin. I don't have all day to play around with you old man."

Dogul takes a step forward as Haschel looks up at him and nods. "Fine then, I'll let you make the first move."

"Whatever you say old man." Dogul tries to punch Haschel, but Haschel quickly sidesteps to the right of Dogul. "Hey, sit still!"

"You'll have to be quicker than that to hit me Dogul." Haschel begins to laugh.

Dogul turns and tries to kick Haschel, but Haschel catches his leg and moves forward smashing his fist into the area right above the Giganto's right knee bone.

"Auuugh! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Dogul screams as he collapses to the ground. "Ahhhhhhhahaha!" he pounds his fists down on the ground as tears make their way down his face.

"If you're through screaming, may we continue?"

Dogul stands up again, wiping the tears from his face as he spits to his left. He turns back to Haschel and grabs him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Haschel screams trying to break free from the Giganto's grip. He looks up again as Dogul headbutts him, causing Haschel to stop struggling and just lay limp in the Giganto's hands. As Dogul prepares to headbutt Haschel once again, he's kicked in the nads causing him to release Haschel. Haschel drops to the ground and jumps into the air doing a backwards somersault, kicking Dogul in the chin with his right foot and with his left he kicks Dogul in the chest sending him skidding across the ground into a building. "That was close." Haschel says before he wipes some blood from his mouth.

"Ugh." Dogul pushes himself up into a sitting position as he looks over at Haschel who is now down on one knee feeling the effects of the blow he suffered. "He's pretty tough for an old geezer." Dogul stands up wiping some blood from his forehead. "This is going to be much tougher than I thought." He looks over at Haschel again and sees that he's now lying on his face unconscious. "Haha. Well, better finish this now then so I can deliver the Spirit to Master Frahma and complete my mission." Dogul walks over to Haschel and picks him up by his shirt. When Dogul raises Haschel up enough so he can stare into Haschel's face, Haschel opens his eyes and smiles before flipping upwards and kicking Dogul in the face once again. Haschel lands down on the ground again and runs forwards punching Dogul in the chest three times before pulling both his hands back, charging up a Lightning punch, and then he throws his hands forwards releasing the blast sending Dogul a few steps back. Haschel jumps back a few steps, wipes the blood from his eyes, and prepares to defend against another attack.

"Crap." Haschel says as he reaches up and holds his head. "I didn't think he'd be this strong. Even Melbu Frahma didn't hit this hard." He looks over at Dogul who's now on his feet walking towards him once again. "I have to finish this soon or I'm done for. I've got two minutes at least before I lose consciousness again, could be less than that though if I'm not careful." As Dogul reaches him, Haschel tries to do a spin-kick to catch Dogul in the ribs, but Dogul grabs his leg and throws Haschel up into the air. As Haschel comes down, Dogul punches upwards into Haschel's back causing him to scream out in pain. He grabs Haschel's head and ankles and begins to ram Haschel down onto his head, dealing even more damage. When Haschel stops screaming, he lets go of Haschel's ankles and begins to choke him.

"You should not have resisted me Haschel. This is the price you pay." He punches Haschel. Haschel coughs up some blood onto Dogul's armor. "Dammit, this is the third time this week." Dogul says tossing Haschel aside trying to wipe the blood off.

Ugh, this isn't good. I'm going to have to transform myself in order to stay alive. Haschel begins to crawl away and hides behind a food cart. He peers around the cart and sees that Dogul is still trying to clean himself off. Good, that'll give me the time I need.

Haschel reaches into his clothes and pulls out his Dragoon Spirit. He looks around the cart again and sees Dogul finish cleaning off his armor. Haschel grasps his Spirit tightly and concentrates. He begins to transform: wings sprout from his back, armor covers his entire body, his fists are covered with a type of gauntlets. He stands up, wounds healed, and comes out from behind the cart to face his foe.

"Dammit Haschel, I can't believe you'd have to resort to such tactics. Why do you insist on prolonging this?"

Dogul starts towards the Dragoon as Haschel just floats in the air, flapping his wings slowly. As Dogul reaches Haschel, he tries to punch him. Haschel lowers his left arm, blocking the punch with his elbow as he headbutts the Giganto. Haschel flies backwards and then strikes down with his fist at such a speed that the Giganto is sent rocketing backwards. Haschel flies forwards, slams the Giganto to the ground with both fists and then flies upwards. Dogul looks up as Haschel casts a Thunder Kid spell. A group of thunder pixies surround the Giganto. Dogul looks around and tries to touch one of the pixies only to have a large shockwave sent pulsing throughout his body. He screams out as a huge thunderbolt strikes down from the heavens, engulfing the Giganto completely. Haschel touches back down on the ground and transforms back into a Human, watching for any signs of life from Dogul. Haschel clutches his chest with his right hand as he catches his Spirit with the other. He pockets his Dragoon Spirit again and looks on to see the spell finish. He stares at the fallen Giganto and then holds his chest again. He pulls his hand away and sees blood covering his hand.

I didn't think the wound would be this bad. he says beginning to breathe heavily.

Dogul opens his eyes and begins trying to push himself to his feet. As he is standing again, Haschel looks at him and lets out a gasp in both shock & terror. When Dogul gets to his feet, he prepares to attack Haschel once again.

"Lord Dogul! Lord Dogul!"

Dogul turns around to see one of Master Frahma's soldiers running torwards him. Haschel looks at the two puzzled.

"What is it? I'm busy with something. Can't this wait till later?" Dogul says angrily, glaring at the man.

"No sir Dogul, I have urgent news from Master Kwami & Master Frahma sir!"

"Frahma!" Haschel screams out in confusion & shock, "but we killed Melbu Frahma on the Moon!"

Both Dogul & the soldier ignore him. "What does my master request of me?"

"He wants you to leave here at once and make your way to Hoax as quickly as possible. It seems our 'targets' are making their way there as we speak. Seems they want to recruit an army to attack Master Frahma and the rest of the kingdom."

"I understand. I will go to Hoax and eliminate any survivors from the war. Thank you, leave here at once and go back to Kazas."

Kazas? So that's where this guy came from. But, who is this Kwami guy, and how can Melbu Frahma still be alive? Haschel thinks to himself as the soldier runs off.

Dogul turns around and stares at Haschel. "It seems that your worthless life has been spared for now Haschel. Do keep in mind though this one thing….." He charges forwards and punches Haschel in the stomach causing Haschel to cripple forward in pain over Dogul's fist. Haschel looks up into Dogul's face as Dogul continues speaking, "I will be back to finish this. Until then, you'd best have fun while you can." He kicks Haschel and sends him flying into the arena. Dogul turns around and heads to the exit of the city Lohan.

"Gah!" Kwami screams as the captain slashes across his chest. Kwami looks down to see blood seeping from the wound. "Damn you, I'll make you pay for that."

Kwami begins to float in the air and pulls out his spear. He flies back down and kicks the captain sending him flying into the air. Kwami flies forwards and impales the captain with his spear. He throws the captain aside and then turns around to see the other man wake up finally and push himself to his feet. Frahma begins to float in the air and reaches into his robes. He pulls out a Healing Potion and drinks the whole thing in one big gulp. He throws the bottle aside and looks down at the soldiers.

"What the hell is this?" Frahma turns to stare at Kwami who just nods back. "Hmm, so these idiots decided to set a trap for us eh? They knew we'd be coming this way. Dammit!" He looks back down at the soldiers and charges up another Thunder-based spell. He then sends a gigantic thunderbolt crashing to the ground, instantly killing the soldiers below. He & Kwami fly off towards the base and begin destroying everything in sight once there. After their attack, Kwami summons forth another enormous Wing Blaster spell and blows away all the flames.

"Can't have the king fleeing now can we? We need to be careful so as not to scare him off, otherwise our plan will not work." Kwami says looking over at Frahma.

"Good idea Kwami. Now, let us be on our way."

The two float back down to the ground and take whatever they feel may be useful from the dead soldiers' bodies. They turn and begin to walk back towards the entrance of the Marsh. Once there, they turn to each other.

"Kwami, what do you say we rest for the night? Those two shouldn't be coming this way until tomorrow morning right?"

"Yes Master Frahma, that is correct. I agree, we'll need our strength back before we can fight again."

Both men start to build a kind of small camp for the night at the entrance to the Marshlands.

The next day, Albert & Rox have gathered their belongings and have left Bale. Both men are walking along the road towards Hoax, discussing amongst each other unrelated topics, sharing a few laughs from time to time. After making their way a couple of miles, they stop as they smell smoke.

"Do you smell that Rox?"

"Yes Albert, something doesn't feel right about this." Rox says grabbing his staff.

"I agree, let's be careful and keep an eye out for any signs of danger."

Both men start walking again and begin to make their way towards Hoax. After walking for a couple of minutes, they hear something in front of them. They run forwards a little ways to see two men standing before them.

"Ahhh, so the king and his little slave have finally shown themselves." Frahma says before chuckling for a moment.

"Who are you?" Albert says narrowing his eyes and taking hold of his lance.

"My name is Kwami and I happen to be Master Frahma's advisor."

"What did you just say!" Albert says backing away a couple of steps, moving Rox along with him. "My friends and I killed Melbu Frahma!"

"Yes, you did kill Melbu Frahma, but not his son. I am Kazu Frahma and I will avenge my father's death!"

"What's going on here? Who are these people? Albert?" Rox says backing away in fear & confusion.

Dogul walks up to the village Hoax and looks up into the sky and then back down to the soldiers who have occupied Hoax.

"Good, they are still here. My master seems to be keeping the king busy. That will give me plenty of time to destroy this village and complete my new mission. Then, I can get back to Haschel." He smiles evilly as he enters the village.

**Chapter 4: Albert's Demise; The 6th Knighthood of Basil falls**

"Rox, I want you to go. Make your way to Hoax and get help as quickly as possible." Albert says without taking his eyes off the two men standing before himself & Rox.

"But….Albert! I can't just leave you alone here, look at these guys!" Rox yells shocked, looking from Albert to the men before taking hold of his staff.

"Dammit Rox! Just go, I don't want you getting hurt. Think about your family Rox, do you really want to leave them behind by getting yourself killed? Just do as I say, I'm ordering you to go to the village Hoax and recruit the 6th Knighthood of Basil so we can save our country. Go now! I'll be fine, I'm a Dragoon after all." He says winking at Rox before charging for the two men.

"Dammit, I can't disobey his order, but I don't want to just leave him here." Rox says watching the battle taking place before him. I'd better go, I'd only get in his way right now. Besides… "…..the 6th Knighthood might be in danger!" he says dropping his mouth. "Albert! I'm going now, if these people defeated those in the Marsh, then they may have someone in Hoax as well!" Rox runs away, leaving Albert to fight the two men alone.

"Good, that fool is finally gone. Now Albert, show me your true power!" Kwami yells out as he begins to summon forth his power of Wind. "We shall see who the true Wind master is!"

"How did you gain the power of magic!" Albert says jumping back a few feet, gripping his lance even tighter in the process. "Only Dragoons & Winglies should possess such a power!"

"Yes, you are right." Kazu Frahma says, "Now, watch this."

Kazu Frahma screams out as his wings sprout from his back. He looks over at Kwami who nods back after he had finished powering up his spirit. Kwami looks from Kazu to Albert and grins a bit before chuckling evilly. He winks at Albert before he sprouts his wings.

"As I'm sure you already know, we Winglies are losing our powers. We are using the magic those Alchemists of Doel's were studying to amplify our power. The power we have now is at least ten times what you experienced during the fight with Sir Frahma's father. You do not stand a chance this time Albert. You are by yourself, you have no friends to aid you this time. You die now!"

Kwami flies forwards as Albert barely manages to raise his lance in time to block Kwami's attack. Albert pushes Kwami back a few feet before turning to block Kazu Frahma's fist flurry of attacks. Kwami slashes downwards across Albert's back as he jumps to Kazu's right side and slaps him in the back with his lance. Albert turns around and rushes for Kazu Frahma.

"Hey! No fair, you're only attacking me!" Kazu screams out barely dodging each of Albert's attacks. "Hey! Kwami, help me out here would ya!"

"Yes sir." Kwami says before teleporting to Albert's left side and kicking him, sending Albert skidding across the ground.

Albert stands up wiping some blood from his mouth. These guys are tougher than I thought. He looks from Kwami to Frahma. I have to kill him before he can cause any more harm to the people of Serdio, or the other countries. I'm glad I didn't bring Dart & Shana along for this, I don't want to put them in any more danger. The Moon Child still has a purpose it seems. He breaks out laughing as Kazu & Kwami look at him with puzzled looks.

"Why the hell are you laughing? You're about to die for chrissakes!" Both men yell at him.

"Oh..nothing, just thinking to myself." Albert replies grinning. "Now, shall we continue?"

Albert takes hold of his lance again and smiles as he walks towards Frahma & Kwami. Kwami runs forward swinging his spear, trying to hit Albert in his left side again. Albert blocks Kwami's attack and headbutts him, knocking Kwami back a few steps before Kazu casts a Thunderbolt spell that Albert barely dodges by jumping backwards. Albert turns around as Kazu appears behind him and catches his fists with his lance. Albert throws Kazu onto his back before turning back to Kwami and kicking him in the chest as he flies towards him, sending Kwami flying backwards a ways until Kwami stops himself.

"Dammit!" Kwami yells as he glares at Albert, "you are much tougher than I originally thought."

"You're tellin' me." Kazu says, pushing himself back up into a sitting position. "That hurt!" Kazu stands up and dusts himself off.

"Well, Round One goes to me it seems. When will Round Two begin?" Albert says laughing.

Where could he have gone? Raven thinks to herself as she's wandering through the cave north of the Prairie. I've been looking for him forever it feels like.

She continues to walk through the cave thinking to herself like this for a while.

Shana & Dart said that Albert was headed this way, so why haven't I found him yet!

She kicks a rock and watches as it skids across the ground and off the platform. She looks over the edge and takes a gulp as it falls to the water below making a large splash when it does.

"Uhh, hehe, I'd better not fall." She says nervously before continuing on.

After a while of walking, she comes to the area where Albert & Rox fought the rock monster. She looks around and sees debris everywhere she looks.

"Yep, he was definitely here." She walks a little ways and sees an odd looking rock on the ground ahead. When she reaches down to pick it up, it begins to move, jumping around violently. She jumps back and takes hold of her rapier and looks up as the rock begins to float in the air. "What in the world is this thing?"

The ground begins to quake and the walls begin to break apart, huge fragments of rock and granite fly towards the red floating rock and begin to take form. Raven watches on astonished as it takes the shape of a large person. She screams out, "That looks like that Albert person that Rose is having me look for! I remember, she showed me what he looks like in Lohan." She jumps back as the newly formed rock monster smashes his fist down into the spot she was just standing at. "Yep, Albert was definitely here."

"Ugh, the big guy's got a lot of power. I greatly underestimated him. It won't happen again." Haschel says holding his chest, walking through Lohan. He climbs the stairs and begins walking towards the clinic, but falls on one knee a few feet from the stairs. "I'm...done for…ugh" he collapses, unconscious on the wooden platform.

A few hours later, he wakes up and notices that he's lying on a bed in some building. He looks around and sits up, wincing in pain he lies back down.

"Hey now, take it easy fella. Looks like you took quite a beating from that big fella down the street huh? I saw you fighting him and I must say I don't think it wise what you did. If I were you, I'd get out of this city as soon as you're healed. It's thanks to this merchant fellow here that you made it here."

Haschel looks from the doctor to the merchant standing by the door. "So, who are you? Why did you help me?"

"Why would you ask such a silly question Mr. Haschel?" the merchant watches as Haschel's mouth drops. "Hahahahaha! Surprised that I know your name? I watched you fight in the Hero Contest last year, I was one of your biggest fans." The merchant puffs out his chest and smiles.

"Ok, but you didn't answer my first question. Who are you?" Haschel says shaking his head, "I am glad to have a fan such as you though Mr……"

"The name's Greg, and please, no formalities sir."

"I won't, but I ask one favor in return."

"What might that be sir Haschel?" Greg says taking a few steps towards Haschel.

"Stop calling me sir! I HATE when people call me sir."

"Um, oh, yes sir…" Greg stutters as he sees Haschel glaring at him, "Sorry s…I mean Haschel sir. Crap, sorry, sorry, I was raised to be polite you see, so I have a hard time refraining from using formality when I speak to someone. Ironic really seeing as how I hate formalities too." He grabs the back of his head as he breaks out into laughter as Haschel and the doctor just shake their heads.

"Anyways," the doctor interrupts, "you need your rest Haschel, so I'm going to just let you be now. I'll take this merchant with me so you can get your rest." He smiles at Haschel who just nods back before rolling over. The doctor walks over, grabs Greg by the ear, and drags him out the door. "Now, you follow me, we're going to get some herbs from Dabas so we can speed up Haschel's recovery understand?" he watches as Greg nods. "Good. Now, you're Dabas' new assistant right?"

"Yes, that's right, but I'm afraid he doesn't like me too much." Greg says frowning.

"That's not surprising." The doctor mutters.

"What?"

"Oh? Nothing, let's just go, I'm sure Dabas won't mind if you take a few herbs from his shop right?"

The doctor and Greg the merchant walk down the platform a ways towards Dabas' Antique Shop.

Raven jumps back a few feet before withdrawing her rapier from its sheath. She looks up at the Rock beast who has now taken the form of King Albert of Serdio.

Damn, how am I gonna beat this thing? It regenerated after Albert killed it. Kinda reminds me of that lizard thing I fought back in the forest.

She takes a step back and hits a rock with her foot. She turns around and watches as the rock slowly falls down the slope of the ground. She looks back up and rolls out of the way as the rock monster smashes down again with its mighty fists. She looks up at it once she had regained her balance and notices a bright red glow coming from a crack in the monster's chest.

"That's IT! That red rock I saw, that's the heart of this thing. If I destroy that, then the rest will fall too!"

She runs behind the rock monster as he swings his arms around, trying to hit her. She jumps up onto its back, and just as she prepares to stab into the creature's back, it reaches around and grabs her. She screams out as the rock monster throws her with all its strength.

"Haha! Puny human girl, you are no match for me. Wahahahahhahahaha! Even that stupid guy with wings couldn't beat me, so what makes you think you have any chance! Hahahahahhahaha!"

Raven catches herself and says with a grin, "This!"

"Huh?" the rock monster asks while changing its facial expression to show it is confused.

Raven screams out as she undergoes her Dragoon transformation. The rock monster looks on in awe as a darkness envelopes the area. After a brief moment, she stops herself in mid-flight and takes hold of her rapier. She turns around with a wide grin on her face as she sends a mighty Death Dimension spell the creature's way.

"Augh! Damn you girl, how many of you winged humans will I fight today!" the rock monster yells out trying to maintain his balance.

Good, it seems to be working. Raven thinks to herself as she notices the hole in the monster's chest opening ever wider with each blow. Now, time for step 2 of my plan.

Raven flies forwards, slashing as the rock's chest furiously and quickly as possible. The Rock monster regains his balance and laughs as Raven's attacks appear to have no effect. He prepares to slap her away as a human would a fly, but stops as she looks up and flies back. She looks up at him and grins as he looks on in confusion.

"Now you die. Albert may not have killed you, but he sure weakened you enough to make my job a hell of a lot easier for me." She begins to fly forwards towards the monster.

"What?" the rock monster says looking down at the hole in his chest. "Oh no." he looks at Raven as she flies forwards through the hole and into his body. She takes hold of her rapier yet again and pierces clean through the monster's heart. "Noooooooooooooo!" it screams as it begins to crumble to pieces. The hole closes up as Raven barely flies out in time. She turns around, hovering in the air, watching in glee as the creature falls to pieces before her very eyes.

"Very good." She floats to the ground and transforms back to human again. She walks over, kicks the rocks aside to clear a path, and she walks towards the exit of the cave.

As she leaves the cave, she looks up to see a raven perched on a tree branch a few yards ahead of her. She closes her eyes again as the bird begins to speak to her telepathically.

"Very good Raven. You learn well. I am definitely impressed, as is Rose. You exploited the Golem's weakness very quickly. You are not as dumb as Rose thought. Hahahaha!"

"Very funny Zieg. Now, anything else?" Raven says grumbling afterwards. She still doesn't trust me. she thinks with a frown.

"No, there is nothing else for me to say. You must now make haste, find Albert as quickly as possible! We fear he has already confronted the foe we spoke of with you. Please hurry Raven!"

With those words, Raven opens her eyes and watches as the raven flies off into the distance.

Rox runs into the village Hoax only to see the village ablaze. He looks around to see what is going on and sees many corpses lining the village walls and the streets.

"Oh no. Who did this?" Rox says, his face wrinkling in sadness as he sees more and more corpses and destruction in the village. "Th…this is….terrible. Why would anyone do this?"

As he rounds the corner he sees an enormous man standing before him. He looks up at him as the Giganto just smiles before crushing a man's head in his hands. He tosses the man aside and grins again.

"I did this you puny human, and I enjoyed every second of it. My master ordered me to destroy this village and kill everyone in sight before the King could arrive. Now, once I've disposed of you I can get back to Lohan and finish off that old man Haschel." Dogul grins and looks down at Rox. "Now, draw your weapon so we can fight. It'd be so easy to crush you where you stand, but I want to have some fun before I go."

"I'll kill you! These were innocent people, they did nothing to you!" Rox says in anger, gripping his staff tightly.

"Hahaha! Good, now use your anger, I can't wait to crush you human. Urahahahahahahahhaha!"

Dogul picks up huge piece of rubble that fell when the building next to him crumbled earlier. He hurls it at Rox who knocks it aside with his staff. Rox charges forwards and tries to hit Dogul in the side with his staff, but Dogul just grabs the staff and throws it, along with Rox, down the street in front of him. Rox goes skidding across the ground into a building as it crumbles, burying the man.

"Heh, that was way too easy. These puny humans were no match for me. I want to have some fun like I did with that old man. Nobody's ever hurt me before, not like him. Oooh, just thinking about crushing him makes me tingle."

Dogul begins to walk towards the exit of the village, but stops as he sees the rubble Rox is buried under moving.

"What the hell?"

Dogul takes a step back in shock as Rox jumps up out of the rubble and stands on the remaining pieces of rubble.

"You should be dead. Why did you stand again? It would've been wise of you to stay down, you would've lived that way."

"Grrr, I won't give up, not until you're lying at my feet you stupid giant!"

"You can barely stand, how do you expect to beat me? Look at yourself human, you're beaten, bloody, and bruised. I could easily kill you now with one punch."

"I don't care what condition you think I'm in monster, I'll still finish you so these people can rest in peace!"

"Fine then, so be it. If you are so eager to die, then come on, show me your skill."

Rox takes hold of his staff again and runs towards the Giganto. He jumps into the air and crashes his staff down onto the giant's head, snapping his staff in two.

"Oh no!" Rox says as Dogul punches him in the chest, knocking him back down, flopping along the ground. Dogul can hear the bones in Rox's body break with each bounce off the ground.

"Ooh, that had to hurt." Dogul says chuckling pleasurably.

When Rox finally stops, he begins trying to stand again much to Dogul's amazement.

"Why won't you just give up!"

Rox doesn't answer. Instead, he forces himself to his feet and slowly starts limping towards one of the dead soldiers.

"What are you doing now? I'm over here, or can't you see me?" Dogul asks him angrily.

Again, Rox ignores him. Once he has reached the dead soldier, he rolls him over. He pulls the sword from the soldier's sheath that was strapped to his belt and stands up, wielding the blade tightly with both hands.

"Now I can fight, and I will kill you, you stupid freak." Rox says, glaring at the Giganto with blood running down into his right eye and down into his mouth. The taste of blood stings the back of Rox's throat as he runs forwards, swinging the sword. He cuts Dogul's arm and jumps back as Dogul tries to punch him. Dogul and Rox look at the wound in Dogul's arm and watch as the blood drips to the ground.

"Ahh, so you do have some skill, even with a weapon that is not your own. Fine then, I will take you more seriously now. It is time to show you my skill human. I require no weapon to destroy you."

Dogul squats and screams out as he starts to gather his power. His muscles bulge as Rox takes a step back, squinting as the blood seeps into his eye more and more, stinging every second. After approximately two minutes, Dogul stands straight up again and looks down at Rox who is squinting back at him.

"Now, which of us will make the first move human?"

"I will!"

Rox takes hold of the sword and charges forwards, swinging as Dogul barely manages to sidestep the attack. When Rox turns to his right, he sees Dogul holding his chest, blood seeping between his fingers.

"Gah! You're much quicker than I thought if you could cut me so deep!"

"Damn right asshole!"

Rox turns and cuts across Dogul's arms and then slashing down above Dogul's left knee. This brings Dogul to his knees as he holds his chest still. He looks up at Rox who is preparing to stab down into Dogul's right eye.

"I told you I'd have you laying before me monster, and it looks like I was right after all." Rox says, still glaring at the Giganto.

"Never take your time in battle, it gives your enemy time to recover."

"Huh?" Rox says looking at Dogul puzzled.

Dogul grabs Rox's legs and flings him to the side. Dogul manages to get to his feet and turns to see Rox fly head first into a stone wall. Rox falls down, laying limp. Dogul looks from Rox to the blood staining the wall.

"Good, now I believe it is time to get back to Kazas to rest a bit before I fight with the old man again. I didn't think that such a puny species could hurt me this badly. Gah." He moans, holding his chest yet again. "Dammit! I hope I can make it to Kazas without another fight, otherwise I might not be able to make it there before I run out of power."

He turns and walks to the exit of the city.

Dammit, I need to check and see if this guy's still alive.

He turns to walk back and check to see if his opponent is still alive, but stops himself as he turns around.

Crap, why am I doubting myself now! He's dead, just look at him! He slaps himself in the head before shaking his head in disbelief at his doubt. Just go, you don't have any more time to waste standing around here Dogul you idiot!

He turns around and leaves Hoax without taking another look back.

"Gah!" Kwami screams as Albert cuts across his chest.

"Kwami!" Kazu yells out, flying forwards at Albert, punching him in the back of the head sending him skidding across the dirt. "Kwami, are you ok!" he says, holding Kwami up and looking into his face.

"Yes, I am all right sir, thanks for your concern, but it is not necessary." Kwami says smiling at Kazu. "Now, what do you say to finishing off this king?"

They nod at each other and turn to see Albert gone.

"What the hell!" they both yell out.

"Behind you." Albert says grinning at they turn around, only to be knocked onto their backs as he stabs his lance into the ground, catapulting himself as you would in pole-vaulting. He takes hold of his lance as he reaches the top and stabs down into Kwami's chest. Albert lands down and throws Kwami with all his might as far as he can. "Now to take care of you Frahma."

Albert turns around and looks down at Kazu Frahma concerned.

"You really don't appear to be a descendant of Melbu's Kazu. Are you telling me the truth about this? If you are really his son, you should be much stronger than this. We were nearly beaten by Melbu, so you should be equally as tough. Something just doesn't seem right about this."

Albert begins to pace around Kazu, looking him over carefully.

"I definitely see a resemblance in appearance, but everything else seems fishy."

Albert raises his left hand to his chin and begins to scratch his chin as people do when they think.

"You take too long to do anything Albert!"

Albert looks up as Kwami punches him in the face, sending him flying backwards, skidding across the ground again.

"Now it is I who saved you master Frahma. Thank goodness you are all right." Kwami says helping Kazu to his feet.

"Thank you Kwami. Any idea how much longer this is going to take?"

"None sir. It's best for us to just wear him down bit by bit I think. With nobody else here to aid us, it is too risky for us to attack head-on as we have been doing. I mean, look at him, he's been beating us senseless when we've barely scratched him."

Kazu looks from Kwami to Albert, who is now on his feet walking towards them. "It appears the king is definitely much stronger than we had believed him to be. I agree with you Kwami, you have never given me false advice before, and it is in your best interest to never do so. I believe you chancellor, we should do as you say."

"Thank you sir." Kwami says, bowing to his master with his left hand on his chest. He stands back up and turns to stare at the king who is now standing before them, wielding his lance once again.

"Grrr, I thought that attack would've killed you."

"You seem to forget who you're dealing with king. We are Winglies, a proud race of warriors. Such puny attempts cannot kill us."

"Good point." Albert says grumbling under his breath.

Albert tries to hit Kwami in the side, but Kazu punches Albert in the side of the head. When Albert recovers from the attack, Kazu flies backwards a few feet and Albert turns to see Kwami fire a Down Burst spell at Albert.

"Oh nooo!" Albert screams as the spell hits. Cuts appear as the wind cuts his body, the wind takes his very breath from him, each attack more deadly than the next. After a few minutes, the tornado dissipates and Albert falls to the ground, bleeding and gasping for air.

After a few minutes, Albert reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out his Dragoon Spirit. He clutches it as tightly as he can in his fist and closes his eyes, pushing himself up into a sitting position. Kwami's and Kazu's mouths drop as Albert begins to change before them.

"No, now we're in more trouble than we bargained for master Frahma. This is the power of a Dragoon Spirit."

"Yes Kwami, I can tell. Let's be on our guard, we cannot afford to lose!"

Kazu and Kwami hold their arms in front of their faces, trying to resist the gusts of wind pushing them back, cutting their arms and faces. After a little while, the gusts stop blowing and they open their eyes to see Albert the Jade Dragoon hovering over the ground before them.

"Final Round, let's go!" Albert yells flying forwards, holding his lance over his shoulder.

Greg and the doctor run out of Dabas' shop in a panic. They brush past two men who were reaching for the door handle and as the two men look from the doctor and Greg to the shop, and both are hit in the head by misc. flying objects.

"Oops, sorry sirs!" Greg and the doctor yell back at them as they hear Dabas yelling from inside the shop.

"You klutzy fool Greg, why did you have to go and break that statue of his!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to drop that bookcase over his trap door either." Greg says looking at the doctor saddened.

"Grrr, you're going to be the death of us all Greg." The doctor says moaning in pain, rubbing his right arm where Dabas nailed him with a pan.

They walk back to the infirmary and open the door. They enter to see Haschel sitting up, legs hanging over the bedside.

"You shouldn't be trying to stand Haschel! Lie back down immediately!" the doctor yells at him, rushing over and pushing Haschel back down forcefully.

Haschel grumbles and rolls over onto his left side to stare at the wall.

Dogul will be back shortly, I need to be ready or innocent people could be hurt this time.

Haschel rolls back over to see the doctor brewing up a potion, mixing herbs and other medicinal items in the process. He looks from the doctor to Greg who's fumbling around with something that looks of value to the doctor. Haschel starts to laugh a bit as the object falls out of Greg's hands and shatters on the floor. He moans at the pain in his ribs, but laughs more as the doctor starts to yell at Greg for being such a klutz. The doctor turns back to Haschel and walks over to him, forcing the medicine down his throat. His throat burns as he swallows, but after a few seconds, he notices the taste of the herbs and takes the rest of the medicine without problem.

"Ahh, whatever you used doctor it sure tastes good." Haschel says smiling before rolling over and closing his eyes.

"There, now let's let him rest a while." The doctor says, looking from Haschel to Greg. "That means you leave now and go someplace else for the moment all right? I'm not trying to be rude, but I don't want you waking him up by accident when you destroy something else that CAN'T be replaced!"

"Yikes!" Greg yelps, turning for the door, "Fine, I'll go. I can't go back to Dabas' for a while, so I'll just wander the city or something. You can probably find me in the arena or the bazaar when you need me. See ya then…" then, under his breath, "you ungrateful bastard."

"I heard that." The doctor says with a growl.

"Yipe!" Greg runs out the door.

Albert flies upwards as he reaches the two Winglies and starts flying down towards them, lance out in front of him. The two Winglies look at each other, nod, and fly up towards Albert. Kwami pulls out his spear and watches as Kazu flies off to the side. Kwami flies upwards and the two start trading blow for blow, parrying the attacks. As they are fighting, Kazu flies forwards and connects with a thunderpunch to Albert's jaw. Albert turns and kicks Kazu in the stomach, crippling Kazu and forcing him to bend over, clutching his stomach. Kazu screams out in pain as Kwami and Albert go back to fighting.

"Kwami, I can see I will need to deal with you first before I can kill Frahma. So, let's finish this now.  
"You will not beat me Albert."

The two fly towards each other again, the crashing and clanging of their weapons can be heard throughout the countryside. Fierce explosions of energy can be felt all the way in Seles.

"Come on Albert, we know you can do it." Dart says, placing his hand on Shana's shoulder.

"We've got faith in you. Please finish him." Shana says, holding her hands to her chest, looking as if she's about to cry.

"I hope that Raven girl can get there soon. She may not be too trustworthy, but at least Albert won't be alone." Shana's mother says to them both.

"I wonder how Rox is doing?" her father asks aloud.

"I don't know, but against a force this powerful, Rox won't be of much help to King Albert." Dart says, looking from Shana to the mayor.

"Gah!" Albert screams as Kwami kicks him in the chest, sending him flying upwards. "Take this!"

Albert fires a Wing Blaster spell towards Kwami, knocking him to the ground. Kwami flies upwards, swinging his spear down towards the side of Albert's neck. Albert blocks the attack, catching Kwami off guard. As Kwami is trying to catch himself and regain his balance in mid-air, Albert pierces through his chest. He pulls his lance out of Kwami's chest and kicks him down to the ground.

"Good, now that he's been taken care of, it is time to rid the world of Frahma's presence once and for all!"

Albert turns to stare at Kazu who has stopped clutching his stomach finally. Kazu looks down at the ground to see Kwami laying motionless.

Kazu turns to Albert with tears in his eyes, "Why? Why did you have to kill him! He was my best friend!" Kazu fires Thunderbolt spell after Thunderbolt spell out of anger and frustration.

Each spell hits and Albert begins to fall to the ground, black smoke rising up from his armor. Albert begins to transform back into a human as he falls, and when he reaches the ground, he bounces off the ground a few feet and falls, motionless to the ground. Kazu floats back down to the ground and walks slowly towards the king.

"What is going on over there?" Dogul says, feeling the energy waves hit him, knocking him back a few steps at a time. "Is master Frahma fighting with the king now?"

Dogul walks ahead a little ways more and sees three men off in the distance. Two lying motionless on the ground and a third walking towards one of the unconscious men.

"Master Frahma!" he yells, but the man doesn't hear him. I must help him.

He begins to run towards the battle.

Kazu reaches Albert and picks him up by Albert's left arm. As he raises Albert to his face, Albert grins and stabs through Frahma's stomach with his lance. He headbutts Kazu Frahma and knocks himself free from Kazu's grip. Albert stands back up, flips backwards, and just as he is preparing to pierce through Kazu's neck, a sword pierces through Albert's chest. Albert looks down at the sword to see blood running down the blade, covering his shirt. The sword is pulled back out of Albert's body and Albert slumps to his knees. Albert turns his head slightly to see a Giganto standing behind him. He sees the Giganto preparing to swing his sword again, and turns to see Kazu standing before him grinning evilly.

I'm sorry…Dart…Shana….everyone….I failed you all….

Dogul swings the sword, removing Albert's head from his body in one quick horizontal slash. Albert's head lands in the distance and rolls along the ground, eyes still open, staring back at them. Albert's body falls to the ground and lays motionless. Dogul helps Kwami to his feet as Kazu walks over and rolls Albert's body over onto its back. As he does, Albert's Dragoon Spirit begins to hover in the air, shining ever so brightly. As Kwami reaches his feet, he sees the Jade Dragoon Spirit fly into the sky. He continues to watch as the Spirit floats back down and rests in his hands. The Spirit of the Jade Dragoon shines brightly in his hands, Kwami is now the new Jade Dragoon.

"Yes, the power of the Jade Dragon is now ours to control Kwami!" Kazu yells in excitement.

"Master Frahma, I am anxious to use this power to advance our cause." Kwami says, bowing down to his master.

"I must go now master. I must finish my duty and rid ourselves of that old man Haschel." Dogul bows to master Frahma.

"Thank you Dogul, if not for you, we would surely have been defeated. Now go and finish your assignment!"

"Yes master."

Dogul begins to walk off into the distance towards the Marsh.

"No….no….it can't be…."

"Shana…I….I can't feel him anymore."

"Something….my heart….it hurts….he can't be….he just can't be dead. He was our friend." Shana turns to Dart and begins to cry. Dart hugs her and holds her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, I should've been there for him. If I were there….he wouldn't…."

"Wait, how do you know he's dead Dart? What if he's still alive! Can't we at least go and see for ourselves whether or not he's still with us!" Shana's father yells.

"Yes, let us at least go and see for ourselves Dart, Shana. Please, I don't want to believe he's dead until we've seen it for our own eyes." Her mother says.

"I understand sir, ma'am, but for right now, let us wait. It is late, so let us wait till tomorrow morning to set out." Dart says, still holding Shana in his arms. Shana's parents nod and they head back to their house to rest for the night. Dart & Shana follow shortly after.

"Something is very wrong." Haschel says, now on his feet in the infirmary.

"What do you mean Haschel?" the doctor asks.

"I don't know just yet, I can't tell exactly, but I sense that something bad has happened."

"Bad? What bad? Are we in danger?" Greg says in a panic, running around in circles. He eventually trips over a loose floorboard and falls flat on his face, a dagger from his bag nearly cutting into the back of his neck as it goes flying.

"Hahaha!" Haschel laughs as Greg pushes himself up. "As I said, I'm not sure Greg. I do get the feeling however that I must leave this city at once, or else everyone may be in danger."

"I understand." The doctor says, nodding to Haschel. "If you must go, at least take these." The doctor walks over to Greg and pulls three Healing Fogs from his bag as Greg tries to grab them back. The doctor slaps him and walks back over to Haschel, handing him the three Healing Fogs.

"Thank you doctor. I will be on my way now, so I'll see both of you soon…hopefully. Till then." Haschel walks over to the door and waves to them both before heading out into the streets of Lohan.

Now Dogul….now we can finish this.

**Chapter 5: Round Two - Haschel vs. Dogul**

"We must be on our way now Kwami. We mustn't stick around in such a place. We have work to do after all." Kazu said as he stood back up.

"Yes master Frahma." Kwami says as he pockets the Dragoon Spirit.

"I am surprised at how well he fought. We would surely have been killed if not for Dogul." Kazu says before spitting on the dead king's body. "Dammit! I feel so weak, getting beaten by such a pathetic king!" Kazu walks over and kicks Albert's body, rolling it along the ground nearer to the decapitated head.

"Master Frahma, it is all right sir. We will train, and with the power of this Dragoon Spirit we will not be beaten so easily next time." Kwami says as Kazu turns to him.

"Yes, you are right as always Kwami, thank you for your support. I don't know what I would have done without you by my side my dear friend." Kazu smiles at Kwami before summoning his wings again. "Now, let us be on our way Kwami. We will need to rest a bit back in Kazas before we begin our training again."

The two fly off in the direction of Kazas, flying over the Volcano Vilude on their way.

"Stupid beasts, get out of my way." Dogul stomps on one Salamander with his bare foot, crushing its body under his weight. The heat of the flame sprouting from the monster's back doesn't have any effect at all on the powerful Giganto. He turns to the other Salamander and pulls out his sword, stabbing down into its head before rolling it off the cliff into the volcano. "Why do these things try to stop me? Nobody can defeat me, especially not that fool Haschel!"

He continues his way through the Volcano Vilude.

(Meanwhile, outside the city Lohan)

"Do be careful Haschel. There is no telling what can happen when you fight a man as strong as that Dogul fellow." The doctor says, staring at Haschel sternly.

"Please don't go Haschel, he'll kill you." Greg says saddened, looking into Haschel's eyes, noticing a look in them he hasn't seen in anyone before.

"I have to go, even though knowing what may happen, I have no choice. I have been marked as a target for extermination Greg. I cannot let anyone else be hurt in this fight, so I will meet him at a place of _my_ choosing, a place where I will have the advantage. Do not worry, if it is my time to die then it is my time to die and I have no regrets, other than that of how I failed my daughter as both a father and a teacher. But…I cannot live in the past as I have done before. No matter what happens, I'm not going down without a fight! I swear to you both I'll take Dogul down with me if I have to die, or I won't be able to rest in peace knowing that someone that despicable is allowed to live as countless innocents have to suffer because I couldn't defend them!" Haschel holds his fist out in front of him and lightning begins to surge from his arm, creating a kind of electrical barrier around him.

The doctor just nods calmly, letting out a breath. Greg stares on in amazement at Haschel's determination and composure. "Whoa! I know you can do it Haschel, I'm positive you'll be just fine!" he says, looking on wide-eyed as Haschel puts his hands behind his back again and nods to him.

"Thank you for your confidence Gregory. I want to ask a favor of you, so would you come with me for a moment?" he turns around and begins walking away from Lohan.

"Uhh, yeah, sure Hasch." Greg begins to run after the old man as the doctor just shakes his head unsure of what just happened.

Weird people. I wonder what Haschel wants with that klutz of a merchant? he watches as Greg trips over a rock and chuckles a bit as Greg falls flat on his face. Heh, hope all goes well. None of my business though. "Oh well, might as well get back to work." He puts his hands behind his back and walks back into Lohan.

(Back with Dogul)

Dogul looks up into the sky through an opening in the volcano ceiling and watches as the smoke rises. I'm coming for you Haschel. I hope you are prepared because I'm going to be giving it all I've got! I want a good fight from you, better than last time!

Dogul looks back down and begins to walk towards the exit of the Volcano Vilude.

Greg continues to follow Haschel through the Dragon's Nest, towards the back of the area.

"Uhh, Haschel…" he continues to walk as Haschel doesn't stop, "where exactly are we going?"

"You will see Gregory, you will see." Haschel turns his head to smile at Greg who just nods back.

They continue to walk through the area and as they come to a fork in the road, they take the path to the right, towards Shirley's Shrine.

"Hmm, what is this?" Haschel says looking up the path at a large minotaur creature standing in their way.

"Is this what you wanted to show me Haschel! I don't want to die!" Greg says backing away in panic.

Haschel grabs Greg and pulls him forwards forcefully, "Oh shut up will you! I didn't know this thing was here!"

They both look back at the minotaur as it roars loudly as it charges for them. They jump to either side as the minotaur crashes into a tree and watch as a horn gets stuck. They run down the path away from the minotaur and stop up ahead behind a large boulder.

"Dammit, I'm not going to let that stupid thing push me around!" Greg yells taking the bag off his back and taking hold of a large axe strapped to his back.

"Where the hell did you get that from!" Haschel says going wide-eyed at the merchant's sudden bravery.

"I've had this thing almost my whole life. My dad was a pretty big man and he used this as a weapon. When he died, I decided to take it for myself and practiced with it everyday. Now, you can go on if you'd like Hasch, I'll catch up once I've taken care of this thing." Greg stands up, wielding the large axe with both hands. He looks down at Haschel who's still gawking at the enormous weapon Greg's wielding with ease. "What! Just because I'm a klutz doesn't make me a wimp."

"B-But, there's only one person I know of that could wield a weapon that large, and he's a Giganto."

"So? My dad was able to use this and so am I. It's not such a big deal if you think about it." He says looking down at Haschel confused.

Weird. I hope to learn more about this Greg character later on, if I live that long. Haschel stands up and nods to Greg who comes out from behind the boulder. I think I'll watch him fight. I'm curious to see how he does. he puts his hands behind his back again and watches as Greg walks up to the minotaur, who is still stuck in the tree.

Time to help this thing out of the tree. Greg stabs the axe into the ground, holding onto it with his left hand. He grabs the minotaur's leg with his right hand and begins to pull. Haschel watches on as the tree begins to come up out of the ground and Greg drops the minotaur face first into the ground.

No way! And I thought I was strong! Haschel's mouth drops as Greg picks up the axe and cuts the tree in pieces to help the minotaur up. I'm beginning to think I should have him fight Dogul. Haschel stares on in amazement as Greg shakes his head while looking at the minotaur. What's he doing now?

"Nah, there's no way I can get this guy standing with a couple logs stuck in his horns, it'd weigh him down too much." Greg paces around with the axe hanging over his shoulder. "I got an idea!" He picks up the axe and brings it crashing down, cleaving off the minotaur's right horn in one blow. As the minotaur lets out a loud roar in pain, Greg cleaves off the other horn.

"Aaah!" Haschel yells out, "How the hell did he do that! That's something even Dart couldn't do!"

Greg looks back at Haschel puzzled and then turns back to the minotaur as it begins to rise. Greg chuckles at the way the minotaur looks now without his horns.

"What do you think is so funny human? You've shamed me. My horns were my pride and joy, and now you've taken them from me. How could you!"

Greg watches as tears make their way down the minotaur's face. "I'm sorry, but I just wanted to help you up so you could at least put up a fight before I killed you."

"WHAT! You? Kill me! What makes you think you could ever do such a thing!"

"This." Greg swings his axe, cutting out one of the minotaur's legs from under him. Haschel's mouth drops even more as the leg goes flying into the woods. Greg watches as the minotaur falls on its back roaring out in pain yet again.

I'm definitely going to need somebody to remind me not to piss this guy off. Haschel thinks, sweating nervously as he watches the mighty merchant stare on at the moaning minotaur.

"Aww, come on, please stand up. It's no fun when you don't fight back." Greg says saddened.

He just cut that thing's leg off and he's sad because it's not able to fight back!

The minotaur begins to push itself up until it's in a sitting position.

"Why are you mocking me? I can't even stand and you want me to fight back? Why are you doing this to me?" the minotaur says before it begins crying.

My god man, at least maintain what dignity you have left before he kills you!

"I don't mean to make you feel bad. I just want you to try and fight, no matter what condition you're in. You see, this is my first real fight so I'd like to try and have some fun with this." Greg says smiling as the minotaur and Haschel look at him, mouths dropped. Haschel takes a step back nervously as the minotaur begins trying to back away. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Greg asks.

He scares me. Haschel thinks to himself before hiding behind the boulder again.

The minotaur tries to stand on its one remaining leg, and grabs the tree next to him to help him up. Once on its 'feet', the minotaur picks up a large boulder and hurls it at Greg.

Ok, now what's he going to do?

Greg picks up his axe and swings downwards as the boulder comes flying towards him. Haschel and the minotaur both drop their mouths again as the boulder drops in halves on both sides of the merchant.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if I should run or not. Haschel thinks to himself as he watches Greg walk closer towards the minotaur.

"Now that wasn't very nice. You should fight fair Mr. Minotaur, not resort to a cheap trick like that." Greg says, going 'tsk tsk' afterwards.

The minotaur tries to punch Greg with his right fist while holding onto the tree for balance with his left, but screams out in pain again as Greg brings the axe crashing down, cutting into the minotaur's fist. Blood drips onto the ground from the wound and Greg takes his axe back and runs to the side of the minotaur, cutting the tree down and knocking the minotaur over yet again. When the minotaur falls to the ground, Greg runs up and jumps onto the minotaur's chest as it tries to shake him off. Greg brings his axe down, cutting into the minotaur's chest, tearing him apart before jumping off to the side, running up, and cutting off its head.

"Poor thing, he didn't live as long as I thought he would. Oh well." Greg shrugs and takes a cloth from his pocket, beginning to clean the blade of the axe. "Well, I might as well cut this thing up with that sword of mine, should be in my bag somewhere I think. This minotaur meat should be able to last for about a month." He drools at the thought of having minotaur for supper and walks over to Haschel.

"Aaah!" Haschel jumps back as Greg drops the axe down beside him.

"Relax Haschel. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Uh, yeah. Hehe, sorry about that." Haschel stands up and walks over to Greg who's plundering through his bag of goods. "I must say, your strength is impressive Greg. I was shocked to see you handle that beast so casually. I'm curious to see what more you've been hiding from me."

"What do you mean Haschel?" Greg says looking up at him as he pulls a sword out of the bag and swings it up underneath Haschel's chin as he closes his mouth, sweating more. "Oh, hehe, sorry about that Haschel." Greg stands up and prepares to walk over to the minotaur.

"Nothing, I just didn't know you could fight, that's all."

"Well, there's a lot people don't know about me. I'm so much of a klutz that people tend to underestimate me." Greg shrugs and walks over to the minotaur and begins cutting it up, separating the pieces into 'edible', 'useful limbs' (that could be used to craft weapons & armor), and 'useless' piles. Haschel just puts his hands behind his back again and waits for Greg to finish.

I have time. Dogul will have to rest before he comes for me. That means I have at least two days to train before he comes for me. I think this merchant pal of mine is going to be quite useful for the while though. he smiles and continues to watch Greg go about his business.

Raven exits the ruins of Bale and sighs. Well, he wasn't there. she begins to cry as she looks back at all those graves. Who would do such a thing? This is just terrible! She drops to her knees and holds her hands up to her face as she continues to cry.

Get up Raven! We must find Albert and help him!

Raven takes her hands away from her face and stands back up. She looks around and then up at the raven on the wall. The raven flies off and Raven just thinks to herself, You're right Rose. Albert's already done all he could for these people, and I shouldn't just sit around and mope all day. she takes one last look back to the ruins. Albert, I hope you're all right. You seem like such a great guy, it'd be terrible if we lost somebody like you.

She turns and begins to run towards the village Hoax.

"What happen here?" the Giganto asks as he looks around the ruins of Hoax. "Everyone dead. Something bad happen." He walks deeper into the ruins and sees a man lying against the wall. He prepares to turn around and leave the village, but he sees the man begin to lift his head. The Giganto walks over to him and helps him to a sitting position before pouring a Healing Potion down his throat.

"Uh…uhhh…" the man moans, opening his eyes, "Wh…who are…you..?" the man asks him.

"My name Kongol. You hurt, don't talk." Kongol picks the man up and begins to carry him out of Hoax.

"Th-thank you….Kongol. My name's…Rox.." Rox looks closely at Kongol and drops his mouth. "You! You're the one who destroyed Hoax! Why are you helping me!" he tries to get free, but Kongol doesn't let him go.

"What you mean? I just got here. I only Giganto in world, no others." Kongol looks down at him puzzled.

"You, you came to Hoax and killed everyone!" Rox stops himself for a bit. "Wait a minute, your speech is different from his. Yes, you aren't that Giganto are you?"

"No, Kongol just arrived in Serdio. Come visit friends: Dart, Shana." Kongol reaches the exit of the village Hoax and begins to walk with Rox in his arms towards Bale.

"Ok, I believe you, but you aren't the only Giganto alive it seems. There's another, he destroyed Hoax and then said something about going to meet a man….Haschel or something."

Kongol looks down at Rox shocked, "Haschel! Haschel danger, must help!"

"Ahh, so you know this Haschel then? Where is he?" Kongol sets Rox down and the two of them begin walking in the direction of Bale together.

"Yes. Haschel is friend of Kongol. I no know where Haschel at." Kongol and Rox go around the mountain before them and see a body lying up ahead the path a ways.

"No! Albert! It can't be, you can't be…!" Rox runs up ahead and kneels down, tears running down his face as he sees Albert's head and body lying near each other. "You can't be dead. No, no…" he shakes his head over and over again, crying the entire time.

Kongol walks up and he looks down at his dead friend. "I sorry Albert. You friend, I let down." He stands over Rox and lets his arms drop to his sides as he lets Rox mourn for the loss of their friend.

"No, it can't be!"

Both Rox & Kongol look up as a woman comes running towards them.

"You bastards!" she kneels down and picks up Albert's head and looks into his eyes. "Why? I'm sorry Albert, I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner. I'm so sorry." She shakes her head and holds his head to her chest and begins crying. She looks back up at Rox and Kongol and yells at them "How dare you! I'll kill you both!" she sets Albert's head down and takes hold of her rapier and attacks Kongol. Kongol takes hold of his axe and parries the rapier, grabbing Raven's arm to stop her from attacking again. "Let go of me!" she fights to get free from Kongol's grip.

Rox stands up and looks at her, "We didn't kill him, he was our friend. I should never have left him alone. He told me to go on to Hoax, but I just got beat by a Giganto…BUT not this Giganto! This is Kongol, a friend of King Albert's." Rox smiles and places his hand on Raven's shoulder as she just glares at him.

"Give me one good reason I should trust you!"

"I find Rox Hoax. Rox hurt, Rox and I just get here, find Albert dead." Kongol says saddened.

"Albert…he told me to go on and protect Hoax, but I was too late to make any difference. The village is already gone, everyone is dead. I was beat badly by that Giganto. If I knew where he was now, or where those two Winglies were that killed Albert I'd go to them right now and I'd make them pay."

"Winglies!" Raven & Kongol yell.

"Oh, a couple of Winglies, something Frahma and his chancellor, I forget his name. I bet you anything that that Giganto was working for them."

"Frahma?" Kongol asks, "We kill Frahma on Moon That Never Sets. Frahma dead."

"Oh, yeah, Albert said that too actually!" Rox says, "This Frahma guy, he said he's the son of the Frahma you fought on the Moon."

"Melbu son? We not know Frahma had son." Kongol said.

"Yeah yeah, so this Frahma guy and his chancellor killed Albert, and a Giganto that is 'supposedly' working for them destroyed Hoax!" Raven interrupted.

"Yes..umm…what's your name?"

"Oh, that's right, I never told you my name did I?" Raven asked shocked at her absent-mindness. "My name's Raven, nice to meetcha." She reaches out and shakes Rox's hand. "I'm a Dragoon, the Dragoon of Darkness to be exact." She boasts as she stands up.

"No! You can't be, Rose dead, Dragoon Spirit lost." Kongol yelled at her.

"Oh yes I am, I found both the Dragoon Spirits of Darkness & Fire in a shrine somewhere in a forest near Lohan! See!" she pulls out her Darkness Dragoon Spirit and holds it in her hands to show Kongol & Rox. "And here's the other one." She pockets the Darkness Dragoon Spirit & pulls out a bag from her pocket to reveal the Fire Dragoon Spirit. Kongol & Rox take a good, long look at the Dragoon Spirit before she finally puts it away. "Now what do you think?"

"I sorry Raven. I not know." Kongol droops his head as she tells him that it's ok.

"Ok, so where do we go next?" Rox asks.

"We go Seles. Dart tell us where Haschel at." Kongol said before Raven could speak.

"Ahh, that way I could also let him know what happened to Albert & Hoax. Dart & Shana are probably wondering whether or not we're ok, and my wife would kill me if she knew what happened here, so it's probably best that we don't stop by my cabin in the Prairie." He says nervously.

"Ok, so how do we all know Dart?" Raven interrupts. "I know I just met him when I was looking for Albert. How about you two?"

"I meet Dart in Hoax. Fight with Dart, Dart win. I fight again Kazas, Black Castle. Again Kongol lose. Kongol follow Dart, friends Tiberoa, save lives. Dart & friends, Kongol friends."

"O…k….there. That was interesting. How about you Roxy?"

"Don't call me that." He says annoyed.

"Oh shut up and just tell me how you met Dart!"

Rox grumbles for a bit and then says "Albert & I visited Seles to speak with Dart about this new foe that destroyed Bale. We didn't know at the time that the man we were looking for was the son of uhhh….what's-his-name Frahma."

"Melbu Frahma." Kongol helps.

"Yeah, that's it! Thanks Kongol." Rox taps him on the chest as Kongol looks at him puzzlingly.

"Ok then, works for me. Let's go!" Raven says excitedly. She looks around and notices a couple of ravens in a tree to their left a little ways. "You hear that Rose! We're going back to Seles! Zieg, we're going to see your son again!"

Kongol & Rox look at her confused and just shrug.

Zieg, Rose, friends of Kongol & Dart. How Raven know? Kongol thinks to himself.

The group of three begin towards the cave south of Bale.

Haschel & Greg finally reach the farthest part of Shirley's Shrine and see a man standing there, pacing around uneasily.

"And who might you be?" Haschel asks him.

The man jumps back and pulls out 6 throwing knives, prepared to attack. "Who are you and how did you find this place!"

"Hey, hey now. I'm a friend of Shirley's, I decided to come here and seek your help Drake."

Drake puts away the throwing knives and narrows his eyes at Haschel and then looks at Greg.

"This goof with you? What are your names?"

"I'm Haschel and this 'goof' as you call him is Greg. Don't take him for granted though, I've seen him fight and trust me, you don't want to get him angry." Haschel chuckles as Greg blushes at the compliment.

"If you say so. You two seem trustworthy I guess." He turns around and walks towards the back of the shrine, but stops at the entrance to the treasure room. "What is it you want from me Haschel?"

"I would like to train with you. Someone threatens my life and I'd like to become stronger, strong enough to fight with him. I think you'd be a good partner to build up my strength with Drake."

"Hmm, why should I help you?"

"Because Shirley always thought so well of you Drake, she said you weren't hesitant to help anybody, no matter what they needed. I remember my friends said something about that to me and I'd like to test that theory out for myself, see if it's really true. From the sounds of it, you put up quite the fight when they came here looking for some Dragoni Plant."

Drake's eyes light up, "So, you're one of their friends aren't you old man?" He walks over to Haschel and eyes him up and down, pacing around him in circles.

"Watch who you're calling an old man, you don't look so young yourself Drake." Haschel says sternly.

"Yeah yeah, no need to rub it in." Drake turns around and takes a few steps forward before turning around again to look in Haschel's eyes. "Fine, I'll help you, for free too."

"Thank you." Haschel nods to him. "Greg, come here for a second."

Greg runs over to him. "Yes Haschel?"

"I'd like you to supply us with a healthy supply of healing potions to keep us healthy while we train. I've seen that you are able to brew up potions and other such items, I saw you doing that in the Lohan infirmary when you weren't looking. So, will you please do this for me?"

"So that's what you asked me here for? I thought you wanted me to train with you." Greg says moping a bit.

"Come on Greg, you're strong enough as it is. You could easily kill me with one blow from that axe of yours if you were to hit me."

"No I couldn't, I'm really not much of a fighter like you Haschel."

"Now don't say that boy! I saw you fight that minotaur back there. You call that 'not much of a fighter'!"

Greg chuckles a bit and says, "Thanks Haschel, if you think that well of me then I'll do whatever you'd like me to." He smiles at Haschel and goes off to find more herbs around the shrine.

Haschel turns back to Drake, "Now, shall we begin?"

The next day, Kongol, Raven, & Rox are passing through the forest near Seles late at night.

"Ugh, I hate this place. I got so lost here." Raven shudders.

"Well, just follow Kongol & me and you should be just fine Raven." Rox smiles at her.

"Yeah yeah, just shut up and let's go."

They continue on through the forest, fighting the monsters that get in their way and resting when need be. After a few hours, they finally emerge from the forest into the pitch black of night. They walk ahead a little ways until they see a bright glow from up ahead. They walk further ahead and see torches lit at the entrance to Seles.

"Ahh, that was nice of them to light those torches for us. We can see the path enough to get there now." Raven says excited.

After a little while, they finally arrive in the village Seles. They walk to the mayor's house and knock on the door. Shana's father opens the door and says "Ah, Raven, Rox, welcome back!" he looks up at Kongol. "And who might you be? Where's Albert? What happened?"

"This is Kongol, and we'll explain to you tomorrow. Right now we need our rest, so can we stay here for the night Mr. Mayor?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, please, feel free to sleep in the guest room you three. But, do be careful not to wake up the wife or the lovely couple upstairs."

"Thank you sir." Rox says as they make their way towards the back and to the guest rooms.

The next morning, the group meets in the living room and they begin to discuss all that has happened.

"So, these two Winglies attacked you, one claiming to be the son of Melbu Frahma?" Dart asks to confirm what he just heard.

"Yes." Rox answers. "I didn't want to leave him to fight by himself, but I feared Hoax may be in danger at that point. When I left him I could hear them fighting behind me, but after that, I really don't know what happened." He looks down at the floor shaking his head. "I should've stayed, I could have helped him, he could have lived!" he pounds his fist down on the table.

"No, don't blame yourself for what happened Rox, it is not your fault." Shana's mother says, trying to comfort him. "Now, please go on."

"Yes ma'am." He sits back up and takes a sip of tea. He looks from Dart to Shana, and then to Kongol & at Raven, who is leaning up against the wall. He looks back at the mayor and his wife and begins to speak again. "When I arrived in Hoax, the village was on fire. I entered only to see bodies lying everywhere. The 6th Knighthood was massacred before I could get there." Shana gasps as he continues on. "After looking around the village a bit, I came across a Giganto. He killed a soldier right before my eyes and came after me next."

"Oh my, how did you survive?" Shana's mother asks.

"To be honest ma'am, I'm not really sure. He broke my staff almost immediately. He shattered my ribs with one punch, still hurt where he hit me." He rubs his sides as Shana's mom yells at him for not telling her earlier. She runs into the next room to get some bandages and other medicinal items so she could wrap up his wounds. "hehe, she's definitely an interesting woman isn't she mayor?"

"Haha! Yeah, I suppose you could say that."

"Anyways, should I wait for your wife before I continue?"

"No, that's all right. She should be back shortly so she shouldn't miss much. Do go on."

"Ok, thank you mayor." Rox sips his tea again and continues on. "He started to walk away thinking he had me beat, but I got up and took this sword from a fallen soldier. I charged for him and hurt him pretty badly it seems. I almost had him beat, I almost killed him, but I let my guard down and that's when I should have died, but I guess I got lucky. He threw me head first into the wall of that building, my head snapped back, I shouldn't even be able to move, but I am. Fate must have been shining on me that day huh?"

"I would say so." Shana's mother says coming into the room with bandages and other such things. She walks over and helps Rox take his shirt off before she begins patching up his wounds.

"Kongol find Rox. Rox hurt, Kongol help. Kongol, Rox find Albert dead next day."

"Yeah, when we found him, his head had been severed from his body. He must've been through quite a lot, his body looked beaten and the look in his eyes was that of sadness it seemed." Rox says, setting down his tea as Shana's mother finishes bandaging him up.

Shana begins to cry as Dart just holds her again. Shana's mother drops her cup of tea and watches as it shatters once it hit the ground. She quickly kneels down and begins to pick up the shards of glass and goes to pitch it with the rest of the trash.

"Albert," Raven starts, "if only I had got there sooner you wouldn't be dead now. I was too slow!" she hits the wall and leaves the mayor's house.

"She shouldn't blame herself either, but I can understand the way you three must be feeling. We all feel helpless right now. I wish he hadn't gone, I wish he would've just stayed here for a while longer. Then, maybe all this wouldn't have happened."

"Haschel…" Kongol says.

"Kongol? What about Haschel?" Dart asks him.

"Haschel danger. Giganto after Haschel."

"What!" Dart yells, "we have to find him, we have to help him now!"

"Kongol come, ask Dart where Haschel."

"I don't know, last I heard he was headed towards Lohan, so I think we should head there first." He looks at Shana, "Please, stay here Shana. I want you to be safe. I'm going with Kongol & Rox so we can see this Giganto for our own eyes. If these guys are after Haschel too then who knows what will happen to him? He's been such a great friend to me and I don't want him to die, not now." He hugs Shana before heading upstairs to their room.

"Dart…" Shana says before crying again.

"It's all right Shana, Dart's a strong man, he'll be just fine. We'll all be fine if we work together. There's four of us and only one of that Giganto. The odds are stacked in our favor I'd say." Rox says winking at Shana who smiles back.

"Thanks Rox, I hope you're right."

I hope I am too Shana, I hope so too.

"Ok! I'm ready to go, let's get Raven and we can be on our way. I can't let Haschel be killed, so if I go ahead a bit, don't mind me all right?"

"Yeah, I understand Dart. We'll follow as quickly as we can." Rox says as he, Kongol, & Dart leave the mayor's house and follow Raven to the entrance of Seles. Shana & her parents walk outside and wave them good-bye. They feel uneasy though because they feel the same way they did when they waved good-bye to Albert & Rox. One died while the other returned; they ponder what could happen this time.

"Thank you Drake for the supply of healing potions." Haschel takes the potions from Drake and pockets them before turning to Greg. "Shall we go now Greg? We have to meet Dogul before he enters Lohan, so we should leave as quickly as we can."

Greg nods and follows Haschel out of the Shrine as Drake just watches them leave his sight. Good luck you two, you'll be needing it.

After an hour, Greg & Haschel have left the Dragon's Nest and are on the road to Lohan.

"Greg," Haschel says to him without turning around. "please stay here. I don't want you getting hurt and I don't want you interfering under _any_ circumstance." Greg nods and prepares to go back a ways to sit on a stone they crossed. "Wait, Greg, should I lose, and Dogul leaves me to die, I want you to carry me to Seles. You know where that is right?"

"Yes Haschel, but why there?"

"I've got friends in Seles. I want to tell them what to do, where to go, and I want them to hold onto my Dragoon Spirit should I die. So…please Greg, will you do this for me?"

"Yes Haschel, but please…don't die. You're an amazing fighter and I know you can do this. So please, have confidence in yourself as I do, that's all I ask in return for this favor." Greg smiles and places his hand on Haschel's shoulder as he smiles and nods. Greg goes back to sit on the rock as Haschel begins his way to the city of Kazas.

Greg, my time has come, you'll see that soon enough.

"Master Frahma. I'm leaving now to dispose of that fool, Haschel. I promise I'll be back shortly." Dogul says on one knee, bowing to his master.

"Good. Now, go and finish this. Bring me back his Dragoon Spirit! If you fail me I'll have your head instead!"

"Yes master, I will not fail you." Dogul stands and leaves the Black Castle. He exits the city Kazas shortly thereafter and begins towards Lohan.

Now Haschel. Now we can finish this. Finally I get to have my fun!

Dogul continues to walk along the path towards Lohan, and after an hour he comes face to face with Haschel, standing a few hundred feet from Lohan's entrance. Dogul does not notice that Greg is sitting on the rock further up the path.

"Haschel, I see you did not run. What a foolish decision for you to make." Dogul says, laughing afterwards.

"What point would there be in running Dogul? It is the way of cowards, and I am not afraid of you Dogul, nor am I a coward in _any_ way. Besides, even if I were to run, wouldn't you just hunt me down yet again?" Haschel points out, glaring at Dogul.

"Haha! Very perceptive of you Haschel. Now, let's finish talking and start the fight! I can't wait forever, I promised my master I'd bring back your Spirit, so prepare to die!"

Dogul tries to punch Haschel, but Haschel catches his fist and headbutts him, knocking Dogul back a few steps.

"Ouch, glad to see you're as strong as you were two days ago Haschel."

"Shut up and fight."

"Ahhh, feisty are we? Fine, if you're eager to die then so be it."

Dogul tries to kick Haschel, but he does two backflips as Dogul runs up and punches Haschel when he finishes, sending him skidding across the ground. Haschel flips up and over Dogul as he runs forwards and kicks Dogul in the back, knocking him flat on his face. Dogul pushes himself up and onto his feet and turns around as Haschel throws a punch. Dogul throws a punch as well and their fists connect as the ground beneath them begins to collapse under them. Haschel & Dogul both jump back and run for each other again. This time, Haschel trips Dogul and makes him fall on his butt. Dogul kicks upwards, sending Haschel flying high into the sky. When Haschel comes flying down, Dogul jumps back as Haschel flies backwards.

"Ahh, already transformed yourself into a Dragoon I see. I'm glad to see you are taking this as seriously as I am this time. Good, now show me what you've got!" Dogul charges forwards and tries to punch Haschel who flies backwards and up, high out of Dogul's reach.

"You can't hit me while I'm up here, but I can reach you."

"Think again!" Dogul bends down and pulls up a huge chunk of the earth and chucks it up towards Haschel. Haschel punches through it as it reaches him and watches as a boulder catches him off guard, hitting him in the head and knocking him unconscious, falling to the ground. Haschel de-transforms and Dogul walks over and kicks him, rolling him over and over. "Come on Haschel, I know you can fight better than this."

"How good of you to remember." Haschel says, grabbing Dogul's leg and flipping him onto his back. Haschel jumps up and crashes down into Dogul's chest with his knees, causing him to let out a gasp of air. Haschel jumps up and back off of Dogul as Dogul tries to grab him. Haschel jumps forwards, flips up over Dogul's head and kicks him in the face, knocking him flat on his back again.

"Dammit!" Dogul says clutching his face as his nose begins to bleed again. He stands up and turns to face Haschel. "You've learned some new tricks Haschel, but they won't save you, not from me."

"Yes, I know that already Dogul. I know I will survive this fight, but that doesn't stop me from having my fun now does it?" Haschel begins to laugh as Dogul punches him in the stomach, crippling Haschel over his fist. Dogul picks him up and throws him, skidding across the ground yet again.

"Glad to see I am not the only one who intends to enjoy myself today."

Dogul takes a few steps forwards and tries to kick Haschel, but ends up tripping on the dirt, falling on his back. Haschel stands up laughing and transforms into a Dragoon yet again. He flies high into the sky, and when Dogul stands trying to spot him, he's blinded by the bright sun. Dogul yells out "Where are you Haschel! Come down and fight me like a man! Or are you too afraid to do that!"

Just then he sees a large Thunderbolt flying towards him. He rolls to the side and stands up in time to see Haschel flying down to deliver his Thunder God spell, right into Dogul's left eye, blinding him instantly. Haschel kicks him in the chin as Dogul clutches his eye and watches as Dogul comes crashing down onto a rock behind him, snapping his back and causing Dogul to scream out in pain.

Haschel de-transforms seeing as how he is unable to maintain his Dragoon form any longer and kneels down, panting for air. "Damn, I hate being an old man. I wanted to fight some more, but in a little while I may not be able to." He looks up as Dogul rolls off the rock and begins to push himself to his feet.

Dogul stands up and turns around to face Haschel who is now on his feet too. The two begin walking towards each other, and once they are standing before one another, Dogul tries to punch Haschel in the face, but Haschel dodges his mighty fist and knees him in the crotch area, crippling the giant for the moment. Haschel kicks the Giganto in the face and knocks him onto his back yet again. After a moment, Dogul is on his feet once more and hurls a large rock at Haschel, hitting him in the face, flattening him along the ground.

"Now your life comes to an end my dear Haschel. This fight was shorter than expected, but as they say, time just seems to fly by now doesn't it? Wahahahahhaha!" he unsheathes his sword and walks over to Haschel. He stares into Haschel's remaining eye and says "Farewell." Before stabbing down through his chest. He pulls his sword out and sheathes it after licking the blood from the blade. "Now my dear old man, time to relinquish your Dragoon Spirit."

"Nooo!"

"What the…?" Dogul says, looking up and to his right as Greg swings his axe, cutting Dogul's face and leaving a large gash in his cheek. Dogul picks himself up and starts for Greg, but jumps back as he swings the large axe again. "Dammit, why wasn't I informed Haschel had a friend like you!" Dogul yells at him.

"Because even Haschel didn't know I was able to fight. Quite the secret, huh Dogul? Now, if you wish to live, leave this place at once!" Greg swings the axe again as Dogul is cut across the chest, leaving yet another deep gash. Greg looks on as blood begins to seep from the new wound and Dogul turns to walk away.

"Mark my words boy, I'll be back for you and I will claim what's rightfully mine!" Dogul runs off towards the city Kazas.

"Haschel! Haschel, are you ok!" Greg straps the axe to his back again and kneels down to pick up Haschel.

"heh, heh…yeah…I kinda figured…this'd happen…" Haschel says, "Please Greg….keep your…word…and take me….to Seles…" he closes his eyes and just lays his head back as Greg begins to carry him cross-country towards the village Seles.

After a few short hours, Greg reaches the entrance of the Forest as Dart & his group emerge.

"Haschel!" Kongol & Dart yell as they see the limp old man hanging in Greg's arms. "What happened, who did this to him!"

Greg shakes his head, "You must be his friends that he mentioned to me."

"Yes, Haschel's our friend, we were just on our way to help him, but we were too late weren't we!" Dart yells.

Greg nods, "Yes, Haschel fought with that Giganto, Dogul, outside Lohan. He told me not to interfere, and I promised him I wouldn't just in case this happened because he wanted me to bring him to you, back in Seles. Can we go there so I can explain what happened please?"

"Yes," Rox says, "that would be best I think. He doesn't have long, so we can at least give him a nice place to rest until his time comes."

They make their way back through the Forest and about an hour & a half later they arrive in Seles.

"Let's take him to Shana's house." Dart says, "she would want to see him before he dies."

"Yeah, I agree. After all, the two of you are Haschel's friends, you and this Giganto Kongol here." Raven says.

They walk to the mayor's house and enter the building. Shana comes down the stairs and gasps as she sees Haschel laying in Gregory's arms. She runs down the stairs and over to Dart.

"What happened!"

They walk past Shana and place Haschel on the couch. Each person takes a seat elsewhere and they look at Greg who is asked to explain.

"Well, as I said, we were attacked by a Giganto named Dogul outside Lohan. Haschel put up an amazing fight, but in the end, he was caught off guard and was hit in the head by a rock that cheat Dogul threw at him while he wasn't looking. Before I could act, Dogul had already delivered the finishing blow with his sword. When he tried to take Haschel's Dragoon Spirit, I ran up and made a deep gash in his left cheek with my axe, and when he wouldn't leave, I cut across his chest, leaving an even deeper cut. I managed to scare him off, but now he's made a threat to come after my life next." Greg shakes his head in disbelief. "What is going on here! Why did he target Haschel! If only I had fought alongside him, we could've beaten him, but Haschel, he got exhausted so quickly, if he were younger I can assure you that he would not have been beaten!" he holds his face as he begins to cry.

"Hey…don't you go shedding….tears for me now…" Haschel opens his eye and smiles at him.

"Haschel! You're awake!" Dart exclaims.

"heh, yeah..I wanted to give you this.." Haschel says as he takes Dart's hand and places his Dragoon Spirit in his hand. "Don't….lose it all….right?" He watches as Dart nods. "I can finally….be with…my…dear Claire…up in Heaven…now…" he rolls his head and slowly closes his eyes as he lay motionless now on the table.

Haschel was dead, his last words spoken, his last good deed done. The group around him mourned his loss for days before burying him in the local cemetery. His funeral was grand, villagers came from Lohan even to mourn the loss of the beloved old man.

The day after Haschel's funeral, Kongol decided he would set out towards the country of Tiberoa to warn Meru of the danger the Dragoons now seemed to face. As Kongol prepared to exit the village Seles, Raven ran up to him and stopped him.

"Heya big guy, I want to go with you, what do you say?"

"It dangerous. You sure want come?" Kongol asked.

"Of course I'm sure, it's best if we Dragoons stick together right?" Raven smiled at him and turned to wave back at the others as both she and Kongol left the village Seles.

Good luck you two. Dart thought to himself as he watched them disappear into the darkness of the night.

The next morning, Dart, Shana, Rox, & Greg decided to set out for Mille Seseau, but in order to get there, they decided they would head to Fletz to ask the King for permission to use the Queen Fury once again at their disposal.

"We need to check up on Miranda and make sure she's ok. We need to convince her and the Queen of Deningrad to build up their defenses for the country. Greg, you're going to stick with us from now on for your own safety. If that Dogul guy is after you, then you shouldn't be alone. Shana's father is having a letter delivered to Dabas for you to explain your absence. I hope that's all right." Dart smiles at him.

"Yeah, I didn't plan on going back to Lohan anyhow, so….sure, I'd love to travel with you three." He smiles at them before they all leave the village.


End file.
